Wildcard: The Strawhat Pirates
by ArtificialTalent
Summary: Changes in the past have caused the Revolutionary Army to begin their move early! The face-off between The World Government, The Revolutionary Army, and countless other forces is about to begin! But the one thing nobody accounted for was how a rookie pirate and a no name crew would make huge waves. On Hold during Reverie Arc as we get more info on revolutionaries from Oda
1. Chapter 1: And Then There Were Two

**Hey guys,**

 **This story follows a slightly different timeline than the canon, but is planned to cover a significant portion of what we all know and love, along with major additions and changes along the way. I'd say it's similar in what many other fanfictions such as different devil fruit Luffys or time travel fanfictions attempt to do, in which they follow the main story but with their own twists and changes.**

 **Now Luffy won't be getting a different devil fruit, and this** _ **isn't**_ **a time travel fic, but you get the gist.**

* * *

 **I have a lot planned and a ton already written so stay tuned!**

 **Small note for those who might feel like you've read this before:**

 **About half a year ago I released a story called "To the Top." After a hard drive failure which lost all my progress and notes, as well as a subsequent lack of motivation to write, I stopped posting to it. It only had four chapters, and sat relatively unnoticed until I deleted it recently.**

 **Anyway, I edited and rewrote part of its first chapter to fit my new outline. I really doubt anyone will have noticed this, but just a disclaimer I figured I would point it out.**

 **All subsequent chapters are completely new.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: And Then There Were Two**

"Ace! Sabo! Wait for me!"

The voice echoed lightly off of the trees in the forest. A young boy was leaning out the window of a makeshift treehouse utop a stout tree. Above him waved a crude jolly roger, clearly the work of children and their fantasies. Scowling, the boy leaned further, his tiny hands digging into the wood as he strained his neck. The object of his cries were two boys in the clearing below him. They were a few years older than him, the first traces of puberty starting to show on their thin frames.

One turned towards the treehouse, grinning. Sabo wore a large, comically oversized top hat with goggles above the brim. It set a shadow over his short blonde hair and bright eyes. Clutching a broken half pipe, he lifted it in the air as if to cheer. Grinning wider, showing off a few chipped teeth, he yelled up at the younger boy.

"Come on Luffy! We're going to Gray Terminal!"

Luffy beamed and giggled lightly. It had been awhile since they had been to the scrap heap at the edge of the forest. Gray terminal was filled with junk, but also treasure. It just took some looking. Luffy couldn't wait to see what he could find.

"I want a telescope!" he declared loudly.

Clutching a straw hat a few sizes too big, Luffy jumped from the tree, whooping as he went. This ended in a cry as he thudded firmly into the dirt, his limbs splayed out like an octopus. The other older boy, Ace, scowled. Just like Sabo, he also held a broken pipe in one hand. However unruly black hair, Dark eyes, and a splattering of dark freckles across his face, made him look the opposite of the blonde boy next to him.

"Luffy stop messing around, you're always acting like a kid." Ace frowned.

"Sorry, Sorry!" Luffy grinned up at the boy. He leapt to his feet and dusted himself off. Unlike Sabo, Luffy looked like he could be Ace's brother, although much younger. He had a round childish face, with a small semi-circular scar underneath his left eye. He had the same unruly black hair, and wore similar clothing. The only thing missing were the freckles.

Luffy wasn't related to Ace. But the three were brothers, as much as you could be without the same blood in your veins. They had exchanged vows over cups of sake, and spent all of their time together. They were as close as you could be. Ace and Sabo were the older two, and they took it upon themselves to protect their younger brother. Luffy could be quite the handful.

"tch." Ace spat, "Let's go then."

Without another word he turned and started walking. Sabo grinned at Luffy before turning as well, running a few steps to catch up. Luffy ran after the two, bubbling with excitement.

The three boys lived alone in the treehouse they had just left. Most of their days were spent in the forest hunting for food, or in the nearby Gray Terminal terrorizing the homeless that took up residence there. They hadn't always been alone, previously the three lived with some kind hearted bandits that also lived in the forest. However several months ago the kids decided they were going to become pirates and had set out on their own.

In the present they were nearing the edge of the forest, and the noise of a distant town began to reach their ears. Perking up Luffy ran ahead, his hands above his head in a cheer.

"We're here!" he hollered as he ran off. Sabo and Ace chased after him, yelling complaints.

Gray Terminal was a depressingly large field of refuse that surrounded the tall walls of a city nearby. Goa Kingdom was a rather wealthy city filled with nobles and merchants. Inside the walls the city was a beacon of prosperity. Each night, the trash was collected from each residence and business of the city and was then promptly dumped outside the gates into the ever growing sea of trash that surrounded it.

Of course Goa also gathered the dregs of society and trash of the populace and dumped them outside the gates as well. Out of sight and out of mind. And so Gray Terminal was also home to a sizable population of poor, homeless and people of ill-fortune. But it was also home to all manner of scum as well.

Most of these inhabitants knew of the three boys that were arriving now. Be it as a friend, nuisance, or adversary, almost everyone had come across the trio at one point or another.

The older brothers gave hurried greetings to those they came across as they chased after Luffy.

The new batch of trash had been delivered several hours before the trio arrived, so most of the decent stuff was probably gone. But today they were there for building materials, not valuables. Luffy had quickly forgotten about their goal, so it was up to the older brothers to find what they needed.

* * *

Wiping sweat from his brow, Ace looked up. Clouds were drifting lazily across the reddening sky. He had lost track of time and now the sun was setting and the world was growing dark. He turned towards Luffy who was crawling through the heaps of scrap. An exasperated sigh escaped his lips involuntarily as Luffy lost his footing and crashed his way down the slope.

"Luffy! It's almost dark, it's time to go!" he called towards the boy.

Ace leapt deftly between piles as he climbed to the top of a particular large mountain of scrap. Reaching the top he turned in a wide circle, scanning for Sabo. Luffy crawled up the pile and collapsed next to Ace, grumbling.

"Ace, where's Sabo..." Luffy whined. But Ace was no longer next to him.

"Over there!" Ace shouted behind him as he slid down the precarious slope. A few trash heaps away Sabo was surrounded by a group of grungy thugs with swords. Sabo stood tall in the middle of them, clutching his pipe close to his chest. Standing a little ways back was a heavyset man. He was a large rotund man, a perfect caricature of a pirate. He was missing half his teeth and wore typical pirate attire. Bluejam, the leader of the local pirate group.

"Sabo!" Ace shouted, sprinting full speed towards the group.

"Ace!" Luffy cried hastily, scrambling to follow.

The pirates turned towards the shout, just to see a blur of red and black rushing towards them. Before they could cry out, Ace was upon them swinging away. Sabo joined the fray and the two deftly dealt with the rushing pirates.

"Ace." Sabo grinned, as he ducked the swing of a sword. Twirling he brought his pipe around and slammed it into the pirate's gut.

"Look what you've gotten yourself into, Sabo." Ace complained as he jumped out of range of two oncoming lackeys. Rolling to the side of a swipe, he pounced forward over another incoming slash and slammed his pipe into the side of a pirate's head before turning and smashing the other end against the second Pirate's sword. Pushing back he forced his opponent to stumble backwards, giving him his opportunity. Nimbly dashing past his defense, Ace shot his pipe upwards, colliding with the pirate's chin.

A sudden scream brought the two out of their combat trance. Turning towards the source they saw Bluejam give them a nasty grin as he held their younger brother up by his shirt, a knife pressed against his neck.

"Luffy!" They both cried out.

"Alright, Alright. That's enough boys." Bluejam smirked before giving an evil laugh.

"Don't hurt him!" Sabo shouted, gripping his weapon. He swore inwardly. He and Ace had taken care of the majority of Bluejam's lackeys, it was only a matter of time before they would have won. But Bluejam had Luffy!

"Okay Blondie, if you don't want the boy to get hurt you need to do exactly what I say." Bluejam spat, still grinning. Sabo hardened. Ace was shouting something next to him but he couldn't hear it. Did this have something to do with his family?

"Your father is very worried about you." Bluejam grinned. Sabo swore aloud. Damn his parents. He didn't think they would hire pirates to come after him.

"Sabo doesn't have parents!" Ace shouted angrily at the big man. Luffy began struggling again.

"That's right! We're his only family!" Luffy called out. The pirate only laughed.

"Family? You think you brats are that kids family?" he laughed again. "You two peasants? This kid is filthy rich and you two are just his play things!"

"You're wrong!" Ace screamed without hesitation. Beside him Sabo trembled, his eyes shadowed as he looked down. "Sabo lives in the forest with us! We're going to be pirates!"

"Bahaha! That's too funny! Bahahahaha!" The pirate laughed repeatedly. Around them his lackeys started to come to. They were quickly surrounded. Ace grimaced as he prepared his weapon.

"Alright guys! Kill the brat! We only need the blonde on alive, so don't hurt him!" Bluejam cried out. The men roared and rushed in for a second fight. Ace swung his pipe back, ready to bash whoever came first.

"Oi, oi. There you are Sabo!" an arrogant voice called. The pirates screeched to a halt. Ace lowered his weapon in confusion and looked around. The sound of marching reached the site of battle. Sabo turned towards it with a glower on his face. Luffy finally managed to free himself and rushed over to his brother's side.

Rows of soldiers covered in full bodysuits and gas masks marched into view. At their front a tall, neatly groomed man walked confidently. He had the look of wealth about him.

"I've been looking everywhere for you! Your mother has been worried." the wealthy man called, feigning concern. Sabo grit his teeth. Bluejam laughed heartily as he called his men back. His job was done for now.

"You're not my father!" Sabo cried in defiance. The tall man tsked as he walked forward. As he approached Sabo gripped his pipe and readied it. The man halted his advance.

"Come now son. Your time playing peasant is over. It's time you got back to your studies." the man scolded. Sabo shook with rage. Ace turned towards his sworn brother and studied him carefully. There was a slight resemblance beneath the dirt.

"Bluejam! Who are these two runts?" the man called to the pirate.

"Oh they're just some gutter rats the boy has been playing with. Nobody important." Bluejam grinned at him.

"I see. Take care of them. Let's remove any incentive for Sabo to run away again." he said as if he were talking about the weather. Ace readied his pipe again. There was no way he could win against these numbers, but he had to trust Sabo. He was his brother. Luffy shook his confusion off and yelled.

"What are you talking about. Sabo is our brother we won't let you take him!"

Sabo didn't say anything as he looked down, trembling with rage. The man turned towards the younger of the three with interest as if he were studying an animal in the zoo. Around him the pirates roared with laughter.

"Brother? You rats? That's ridiculous." the man said incredulously. "Come now Sabo let's go home. Bluejam, kill them already." he turned to walk away.

"Wait!" Sabo cried. The man turned back towards him. "Don't hurt them! I'll come with you if you leave them alone!"

Ace gasped. Luffy started crying. "Sabo no!" he cried. Sabo turned towards the two and smiled sadly. Their time together looked to be drawing to a close. The memories the three shared flashed through his mind as he took in their faces.

"Tch. Whatever. Let's go then." the man called back and turned to leave again. Sabo took a step towards his brothers before stopping again. He didn't want to make this harder than it had to be on the two. He put on a small smile as he prepared his words.

"Ace. Luffy. I'm going to have to go now. Don't worry about me, I'll be okay. I know you two will make great pirates." he grinned, trying to hold back tears.

Ace didn't say a word as he tried to take in the situation. Luffy started bawling loudly. Sabo stood still for a moment before turning and trudging sadly after his father. There wasn't anything else he could do. At least he was able to save his brothers. He hoped they would forgive him.

Soon Sabo was a distant speck on the horizon. The pirates shifted restlessly as they waited for Bluejam to give an order. Besides the wind, the only sound was Luffy crying. Finally, Bluejam grinned and stepped forward.

"So. I have a job for you two."

* * *

 **The Following Night**

"Say, Bluejam, what are these boxes for anyway?" Ace questioned.

"Ah," Bluejam laughed, "You see, we were hired by the nobles to take care of a very important job. Tomorrow a Celestial Dragon is due to arrive in Goa Kingdom. So the king wants to be rid of the waste surrounding the capital!"

Ace stopped. Luffy rammed into his back, the wooden box digging into his shoulders. Luffy huffed and sat down. He was too tired to be working. Ace eyed Bluejam carefully. The pirate turned towards him and grinned.

"In exchange for doing this job, the king has promised to make me a noble! I just have to go to the west gate after I'm done here! How does it feel to know you helped set up the explosion that will engulf Gray Terminal and end it's wretched existence?" Bluejam roared with laughter.

Ace dropped the box and without a word drew his pipe. Luffy rubbed his eyes and looked up at his older brother. Were they going to fight now? They were alone with Bluejam. His lackeys were all over the place setting up the explosives. Narrowing his eyes, Ace sized his opponent up.

Bluejam grinned at the sight. "What do you think you can do, you snot nosed brat?!" he shouted as he drew his sword. He was going to enjoy this. It had been awhile since he had watched the life drain out of someone's eyes. He watched the scowling boy carefully. Ace was notorious in the area, and it wasn't for no reason. He wouldn't underestimate him, even if it was a kid.

"Luffy, go back and get Dadan from the mountain." Ace called, his voice low and deadly. Luffy didn't understand what was going on but he was suddenly filled with determination. His brother needed him for something and he wouldn't let Ace down. Not after he had already lost one brother. Luffy wheeled around and sprinted for the forest. And tripped.

Ace sighed but made no move to help him up. Bluejam roared with laughter, his cackling echoing off of the heaps of metal surrounding them. Luffy got up nervously, and with a single look back, took off for Dadan's house.

"Now. I'm going to beat you so bad your brains will leak out of your empty skull." Ace threatened. Bluejam made no comment but smirked at the boy's arrogance. Insults meant nothing. The fight would determine who was stronger.

Suddenly Ace rushed forward, a blur of vengeance. Bluejam was surprised at his speed but quickly whipped out his pistol. He fired off two shots but Ace was already ahead of him. With a roar Bluejam fired off the rest of the bullets in a flurry, hoping to catch the boy with one of them. Ace was too quick. As he got in range he leaped forward, crashing into the big man with all his weight.

Bluejam stumbled backwards but stayed on his feet. With a grunt he pushed Ace backwards and took a haphazard swing at him. Ace swept under him, the sword hissing through the air above him. Without pausing Ace launched upwards, his pipe smacking dully against the pirate's thick chest. Bluejam retaliated by swinging the empty pistol hard against Ace's head.

Ace hit the ground in a burst of dust and his vision flashed. Without thinking he rolled to the side as the sword swiped downward in a deadly arc. Ace leapt to his feet and raised his pipe in time to block a second blow. Bluejam may be big, but he was a brute. He had no finesse to his combat and Ace knew he could defeat him. But a stray swing could be the end of his life, so he had to be careful.

For a few tense moments Ace gracefully parried, dodged, and clashed with Bluejam. But then he saw his opening. With a war cry he leapt forward, utilizing his momentum to swing his pipe in a short arc, catching the edge of bluejam's handle guard. The sword clattered out of the pirate's hands. Ace dove for it.

 _Unbelievable!_ Bluejam cursed the boy before he kicked with all his might at the diving boy. A loud crack sounded out. Ace coughed up blood and wheezed. He felt his side as he stood. He definitely had some broken ribs. But there was nothing he could do about it now.

Gulping down his spittle, Ace straightened. He held the pirate's sword in one hand and the pipe in the other. The now defenseless pirate scowled darkly at him. Ace smirked, he knew he had the upper hand. With a flash he charged forward to end the fight. Bluejam let out a triumphant shout as he pulled a second pistol out of his waistband.

 _Crap!_

Ace dove behind cover, swearing. A beat passed and he realized there was no sound of gunfire. Peaking forward, he saw the pirate's figure as he hobbled away. Damnit! He was running!

Jumping to his feet, Ace took off after him. There was no way he was letting him get away!

* * *

 **At the mountain bandit's house**

"Dadan! Dadan!"

Distant yelling reached the dwelling. A large woman with curly hair was busy chugging down a huge jug of alcohol and paid no heed to the calls. However a short scrawny man heard the cries and was trying to get the larger woman's attention.

"Will you stop bothering me Dogra!" the larger of the two shouted drunkenly. She threw her fist outward, connecting with the shorter man's head. He was sent flying into the wall. Content, Dadan went back to drinking.

"Dadan!" the yelling was closer now.

Dadan looked up, a blush settling heavily on her cheeks. She let out a belch before wobbling to her feet. She looked at the crumpled man on the floor and sighed. What a useless lot they were.

"Dogra, why didn't you tell me someone was screaming!" she spat sharply. Huffing, she threw open the door and walked outside. The sun was setting nicely. It would be a good night.

Wait, was that smoke? She squinted at the sky, trying to force her aging eyes to work.

"Dadan! Dadan! Help!" the yelling was very close. Soon she could see the form of a young boy running up the hill towards their hideout. Her eyes widened in surprise as she recognized the form. What was he doing here? Where were the other two?

"Luffy!" she shouted, "Where's Ace and Sabo?"

Luffy flew up the hill, not stopping. He put on a last burst of speed as he saw the cottage come into view. It looked like Dadan was on the porch yelling something. He couldn't hear her over the pounding of his heart. With a cry Luffy burst forward ramming into the woman's stomach, sending them both flying back into the building.

"Damnit Luffy!" Dadan roared as she got up. "What the hell do you think you're doing!"

The people inside the building shrank back from her imposing form. Dogra sat up and limped over towards the boy and the woman. His eyes widened as he noticed who it was. Luffy hadn't been back in months! What was he doing here all alone now?

Luffy panted before looking up at the woman. "It's Ace! He's fighting Bluejam! They are gonna blow up the gray terminal!" he cried.

Dadan's eyes widened. "What was that? Ace is fighting Bluejam?! Lead me there!"

A huge explosion shook the room. Everyone rushed outside to find the source. Off in the distance a large smoke plume was gathering, blotting out the remaining sunlight. Beyond the forest, a brightening glow filled the sky.

"Nevermind. Dogra stay here with Luffy! I'll go find Ace. Keep Luffy safe!" Dadan shouted. Luffy protested but Dogra was holding him down tightly. No way were they letting such a young kid rush back into that mess. Dadan rushed inside and pulled a rifle off of the wall. Then she ran back outside and towards Gray Terminal. She would not let Ace die.

By the time she reached the edge of the forest she was panting heavily. She wasn't out of shape necessarily, but the smoke was incredibly thick. Her eyes stung but she pushed through it. Ace was in there somewhere. Stumbling through the haze, she found herself surrounded by flames. She drew in a deep breath and almost hacked it back up due to the smoke.

"Ace!" she shouted as loud as she could. The sound was lost on the wind and amidst the roaring of the flames. She wouldn't give up. She may not show it, but her boys meant everything to her.

Finally after pushing through a particularly bad patch of smoke, she saw two blurred figures ahead. One was a large heavyset man, while the other was tiny in comparison. It looked like the big man was unarmed however while the boy held both a sword and a pipe. Dadan rushed through the flames.

Ace was out of breath. There was just too much smoke. He had chased Bluejam as fast as he could but he hadn't got there in time. Just as he had turned the corner, Bluejam lit the fuse. Now Ace's ears rung and the smoke made his eyes water. He could barely stand, much less fight.

Bluejam however looked almost unaffected. He continued cackling even as the world burned down around him. Slowly he pulled out a small knife hidden somewhere on his huge body. Ace stumbled a bit as he tried to maintain his position. Raising his newly acquired sword, he waited for what would be the final fight.

"Ace!" Dadan shrieked as she came into range. Ace looked backwards in surprise. _Dadan?!_

This gave Bluejam the opening he needed. He launched forward and bowled into Ace like a cannonball. Flipping the boys legs out of under him, Bluejam landed on top of him with a crash, sending the wind out of both of them. Dadan roared at the sight of her boy being injured and leveled her rifle at the man's side.

Ace struggled to breathe. First the smoke, now this huge fat bastard on top of him. The world was going black and no matter how hard he struggled, he just. couldn't. move. He could feel his life flashing before his eyes but he wouldn't give up. His strength slowly ebbing away, he continued to punch, kick, and smack as hard as he could but the big lug wouldn't move. He let out a large sickly cough and a thick stream of phlegm and blood dribbled on his lips. Would he drown in his own blood?

A giant crack whipped through the air. Another followed, and another after that. Dadan was crying now, but refused to stop firing. Six, Seven, Eight bullets later she stopped. Bluejam was heaving, and blood was pouring freely out of him. Below him Ace had stopped struggling.

With a final roar, Dadan shoved Bluejam off of the boy's frame. Ace was covered completely in blood. Absolutely soaked in the liquid. He was wheezing softly, trying to get the thick stuff out of his throat. Dadan lifted him up carefully, as she sobbed. The flames roared on around them.

* * *

 **The Next Day**

Luffy woke with a start. For a moment he remembered nothing as he looked around sleepily. The world was still gray and lifeless. The room was dark and nobody else was there. Reaching up he felt salt streaks dried upon his cheeks. Slowly everything came back to him.

His heart jumped into his throat as he remembered Dadan stumbling back home, Ace cupped in her arms. He had been bathed in blood and Luffy couldn't tell if it belonged to him, Dadan, or someone else. Dogra had put Luffy in his room while he bawled, so he wouldn't get in the way.

He had fallen asleep just like that.

Standing Luffy struggled out of the room. His strength was sapped. But he had to see what happened. The door creaked as he pushed it open only to find the lights still burning in the next room. Dadan sat dozing next to a crumpled pile of blankets. Next to her Dogra was curled on the floor. Scattered throughout the room were more of the bandits sleeping in various piles.

Luffy crept forward. Peaking out of the blankets, Ace slept soundly. The blood had long been cleared away, but bandages were plastered all over the boy's face. He must have received some heavy burns. Luffy blinked, before heaving a sigh of relief. Ace was safe.

Pulling open the door, Luffy padded outside quietly. It was just before dawn. The smoke had long cleared away due to a moderate breeze rushing down the mountain. Luffy took a quick glance back before setting off towards Gray Terminal. He didn't really get what had transpired the day before, but there was a strange smell on the air.

It took him half an hour to reach the edge of the forest and by that time he was starving, his stomach seemingly waking up from its slumber. He stopped for a moment and complained to nobody in particular before deciding to continue on. Finally everything came into view.

Well. It was still gray.

Other than that it was barren. Ash covered everything. Lines of workers were pushing the remaining trash into piles while soldiers swept outward to look for survivors. Luffy put his hat on his head and pulled it down over his eyes. He had already glimpsed the charred bodies but he didn't want to see any more of it.

Taking care to avoid as many people as possible he plodded towards the town. Every once in a while he stopped to inspect something or hide from a passing soldier, but he was making steady progress. finally as the sun fully crested above the horizon Luffy stood below the giant walls of the city. Bluejam had said something about the nobles inside wanting to burn the place. Luffy frowned darkly. He didn't really understand what was going on, but he was going to find out for himself.

After stowing away beneath a cart of soldiers, Luffy quietly watched the ground pass from ash, to dirt, to cobblestone as he entered the city proper. After a few moments he slunk away from the cart before anyone could spot him. Luffy's stomach reminded him that he hadn't had breakfast yet and so he set off in search of food. Soon a smell of cooking had reached his particularly sharp nose and he followed it to an open window.

He pushed himself up and inside the empty room, the smell of food guiding him. Finally he found the kitchen where a middle aged man was working away at the stove. He had already set what looked like ham on the table, so Luffy sat down and started thoughtfully chewing away at the food.

A few minutes later he stood and walked out without saying a word. The man had never turned around and Luffy saw no reason to talk. He was somber today.

He leapt out of the window and hit the ground softly. Deciding to follow the steady stream of people, Luffy soon heard the roar of a crowd. Perking his ears he picked up the pace. Soon he found himself at the docks where a huge crowd of people was formed. He shoved his way to the front and craned his neck to see. Finally he spotted what everyone was in an uproar about. There was a huge vessel coming up to port.

"It's a Celestial Dragon!" someone beside him shouted.

A dragon? Luffy thought, images of a fire spitting demon filling his head.

"I can't believe he came all the way here! It's a lucky day!" another said, waving a flag above their head.

"Wait! What's that boat!" a woman screamed pointing towards the bay. Luffy turned and peered at what she was pointing at. Sure enough a small dinghy was floating towards the larger ship. Luffy squinted to try and see clearly, but people all around him were jostling and pushing frantically.

"Ah! That's my ship! Some boy stole it!" a man cried, waving his hands above his head.

"Come back boy!"

"That's a world noble don't get in his way!"

"What are we going to do!"

"Someone do something!"

The crowd was in a panic as the boat drifted further out to sea. Luffy watched curiously, not quite understanding. He looked around briefly before finding someone a few yards down holding up a spyglass. Slyly he let his arm slink forward before snatching it up and pulling it back quickly. The man shouted but it was lost in the crowd.

Luffy grinned and pulled the glass up to his face. Peering through it he looked to find the boat. First he found the large ship and looked curiously on board. There was a pudgy man with weird hair standing near the rail. He wore a strange bubble looking thing around his head, and equally weird clothing. There were several soldiers and guards surrounding him.

Dragging the spyglass across the waves he found the smaller vessel. At the top a black flag waved. Pirates? he thought. As he brought the lens into focus his heart soared. Excitedly he looked down towards the deck for confirmation.

"Sabo!" he screamed. On the deck of the little boat, the blonde boy stood proudly looking over the waves. Luffy sighed in relief. Sabo was alright. Why was he in a boat? Luffy wondered. We promised to leave when we were 17 and Sabo wasn't that old!

His thoughts were cut short as a loud blast sounded from the ship. The crowd roared again. Another blast. Luffy peered through his spyglass again and blanched. Sabo's ship was on fire! Another blast. No! Sabo!

"SABOOO!" Luffy yelled with all his might, his voice cracking. Hot tears were already pouring down his cheeks before he realized it. He dropped the spyglass without a thought and couldn't even hear it break as it hit the ground. The crowd around him was fading. He couldn't hear anything. Desperately, he pushed against the maddening crowd and clawed at the wooden railing he was squeezed up against.

 _Sabo._

The flames on the ship went out, leaving just the billowing black smoke and the floating debris. The large ship continued onwards as if nothing had happened, the huge wake causing the wreckage of the little ship to break apart. Luffy barely registered as a rope fell from its side and pulled the blonde boy on deck.

A half an hour passed and Luffy had barely breathed. His struggling had ceased and now he swayed lifelessly with the crowd.

 _Sabo._

The weird man with the bubble hat was parading down the street, a long rope in his hands dragging a lifeless boy's body behind him. Luffy felt his heart stop beating. It was deadly quiet in his mind even though he could see the people in the crowd cheering. Everything was growing dark and he couldn't feel anything. A strange feeling was bubbling up in his chest.

A cold wind rushed swiftly across the crowd causing several people to stumble against it's stiff force. Luffy couldn't feel it, only the strangely hot bubbling that was rising up his throat now. His body felt like it was burning up.

Suddenly the world rushed back. The roar was suddenly deafening. The tears on his face were burning. The bruises on his body were screaming. His heart was tearing. Luffy couldn't take it. With a huge burst of emotion he screamed.

Luffy's scream was a hoarse and broken noise, barely human. His vocal chords sounded almost as if they were ripping apart. With his guttural cry, a huge wave of power burst out. His body was boiling and the power was releasing in huge waves that swept and engulfed the square. The entire crowd was suddenly completely silent. Luffy's voice trailed off into sobs which echoed softly off the stone buildings around him. The wind rustled wordlessly through the suddenly quiet crowd. And then, one by one they began to drop lifelessly to the ground.

* * *

High above the burning city, a lone figure watched.

Draped in a heavy green cloak, the man's face was masked in shadow. He seemed to be in deep thought. From his perch he had observed the ceremony of the Celestial Dragon. Just as he had turned to leave, a huge wave of base emotion washed over him. He stopped and turned back towards the plaza. Slowly he raised his hand and pulled back his hood.

The man had a large red tattoo that covered nearly half his stony face which was currently devoid of emotion. The only sign of life was his sharp eyes which seemed to look down at the events with a sort of hungry pride.

The waves of power continued to wash over the man and the surrounding city, but it seemed to have no effect on him. Instead he looked down at its source. His eyes narrowed briefly, almost imperceptibly as they found the center of power.

A lone boy, hardly more than a toddler stood amongst the frozen crowd, small sobs wracking his body. The man's face was unreadable. He seemed to be in deep thought. Then, a small smile played across his face.

As if breaking out of his reverie, the cloaked man shook his head. With an almost imperceptible change of the wind, the figure disappeared. A second later he was on the ground, amidst the slowly falling people. They were all unconscious. Some had small bubbles of froth on their mouths. All of their eyes were glazed and empty.

The man walked slowly towards the crying boy. When the last of the people had collapsed, the man stood alone in front of the small sniffling frame.

"Boy."

His voice was deep and hoarse, as if it was hardly used. His face was still stony and empty. His eyes cold and sharp.

Luffy wiped away at his nose and looked up at the imposing figure timidly.

"Who are you?" he asked quietly, hardly able to suppress the sobs.

"You should get going. It won't be safe here for long." The man ignored his question.

"But Sabo…" Luffy cried.

The cloaked man looked towards the fallen noble and the rope he had been dragging. After what seemed a second of thought, he looked back at Luffy. A small wave of pressure exuded off of the man and rushed into the small boy's body.

Luffy grew still, his sobs suddenly gone. He looked up at the man almost unconsciously.

"Get moving." The man said simply.

Luffy complied immediately and began to trudge down the street and towards the gate out of town. His mind was completely clear save those two words. All he knew was that he had to follow those orders.

The man watched the retreating figure quietly for a several moments. Soon the boy was out of the plaza and heading down the road. Finally the cloaked man began to move as well. He turned and began to walk slowly but deliberately towards the unconscious world noble. A second later he was looking down at the strangely shaped man.

The bubble he had been wearing seemed to have popped. His nose had broken when he had collapsed and was now bleeding freely. Dirt was now streaked across his previously pristine clothing.

Wordlessly, the cloaked man stooped down and picked up the body. With ease, he threw the body over his shoulder and straightened. For a second he hesitated, but then turned towards the broken boy the noble had been dragging who was collapsed nearby. Another beat passed before the cloaked man came to some decision. Again he stooped down and scooped up the small boy. With a bit of shuffling he seemed to have a good hold on both bodies and straightened again.

The man let out a small sigh. His vision swept over the hundreds of collapsed civilians in the plaza. Finally he looked back towards where the sobbing boy had left the plaza. He hesitated briefly, but then the wind shifted quietly and the man was gone.

* * *

Luffy's mind returned soon after exiting the city. The wind had picked up and ash was in the air. Gray terminal had taken flight and a huge cloud of dust was hanging low in the sky. Down in the city, fires had started to rage. It seemed everyone had been knocked out cold, and now unattended the city was alit. Smoke was gathering with the ash above, turning the world a dark grey shade.

Fresh tears began to fall. Luffy wanted to just stop and curl up in a ball, but something told him to keep moving, to go to Dadan and Ace, to go home. There was nobody around. Of course all the bodies had been moved or buried. The workers would have been in the city for the Celestial Dragon's arrival. There were huge mounds everywhere. Mass graves for the dead.

Soon Gray terminal was gone and Luffy was back in the forest. It was alive and moving, the same as any other day. Birds were calling and the trees whistling. It seemed almost unfair. Almost as if nothing had happened.

The bandit hideout came into view eventually. Standing outside was a worried Dadan. Luffy looked up at her dejectedly, before entering the house without saying a word. The big woman frowned as he passed.

Ace had been moved into their room and was still sleeping soundly. His bandages had been replaced at some point, but it didn't look like he had awoken yet. Luffy collapsed next to him, face down into his pillow. His body began heaving as sobs began anew.

* * *

 **Marine Headquarters**

Sengoku was not having a good day.

Being Fleet Admiral came with a lot of responsibilities. Thus when the den den mushi started ringing he only sighed before picking it up. He didn't have the luxury of ignoring phone calls. But soon he would wish that he had ignored just this one.

"WHAT?!"

* * *

 **Back aboard the Celestial Dragon's ship, docked in the Goa Kingdom**

"I demand you take action! Tell the marines to take action!" a nasally man was screaming into the receiver.

Outside was pure pandemonium. People had begun to wake up all over the city, but it was to a world of destruction. The fire had spread rapidly and was engulfing nearly half the city. Some had taken advantage of the situation to begin looting stores. Others had begun to flee the island in droves once they had realized something very wrong had occurred. Nobody wanted to be around for what would occur next.

"That's not enough! I want you to destroy this island! Wipe every last vermin off it's face!" the nasally man's face was red. The bubble helmet was fogging over. Several guards looked on in fear. After all, they had failed at their job. Who knew what the noble would do after he was done with destroying this island. His brother was missing after all. And it was their fault.

"I don't care if they belong to the government! I want them GONE!" the man screamed, spittle flying.

After receiving some answer the man visibly calmed down.

"Yes. Okay. A buster call, okay good. Whatever you want to call it I don't care. Good. Alright." For almost a minute he listened to whoever was on the other end of the line.

"They already searched. Can't find him anywhere. Said some peasants probably dragged him off and killed him somewhere. That was my brother! Now his blood is on their hands and if you don't make sure every last one of them is dead by morning, I'll make sure it's on your head!" he had gotten angry again all of a sudden. Finally with a huff at some confirmation, he slammed the receiver down. He turned towards the guards with a glower. After eyeing each one he turned towards his navigator.

"Alright let's go. I want to see this country burn, but lets do it at a safe distance." he haughtily swept his drooping cape and walked out of the room. The guards sighed audibly. They had escaped punishment for the moment.

* * *

 **Aboard a Navy Battleship**

"Vice Admiral Garp! We have received word of a buster call near our location!" a marine reported to the greying man. Said man was currently busy slurping noodles noisily out of a bowl, seemingly uncaring about this report.

"Where?" Garp asked after a moment of slurping. He chewed thoughtfully. Damn buster calls, they were a terrible thing. There hadn't been one in years, but he usually tried to steer clear of where they were happening, but this had taken him off guard. What was a buster call doing out here in the east blue? He took a long sip of alcohol.

"The Goa Kingdom sir."

Garp spit out his sake in a huge burst of mist. His eyes bugged out of his head. _The Goa Kingdom?! God damnit! Why there?!_

"Set sail immediately!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. The marine visibly flinched before shouting confirmation.

 _Luffy. Ace. Stay safe._

* * *

 **Next time: Buster Call!**

 **Thanks for reading, let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2: Brothers in Different Worlds

**Chapter 2: Brothers in Different Worlds**

Ace awoke suddenly to the sound of cannonfire.

He wiped at his eyes and peered into the darkness around him. It was early morning, or perhaps late in the evening and the sun barely shown through the windows of the cottage. Next to him Luffy was fast asleep, dried salty tear streaks on his cheeks.

The events of the day before rushed back to him with a dull roar. He clutched his head and let out a soft moan as everything pounded away. After a moment he realized that the pounding came not from his head, but outside. With a bit of effort he pulled himself from the bed.

Ace winced as his feet hit the floor and all of his bruises flared up at once in protest. His entire body ached. He was covered in small bandages and gauze, though it looked like all the ash and soot had been cleaned away.

The low thumping spurred him onward and out the door. As he passed into the main room he noted the large sleeping figure of Dadan, and the surrounding forms of the rest of the bandits. A small pang of guilt reminded him of Sabo's missing presence but he shook it away and continued outside.

A moment passed as he adjusted to the light. With a shock, his eyes widened. Across the horizon, dark clouds of smoke billowed in large columns. All around him, the forest raged with fire. Every few seconds a flurry of deep booms echoed off of the mountains, and a second of whistling later the ground shook with force.

Ace's eyes followed the horizon. The sea surrounding the island was dotted with large battleships that seemed almost like playthings at this distance. Every few seconds they would flash and the world would shake anew. He continued his search until his eyes reached the walled city below. It was the source of the largest pillar of smoke, and high above it a huge cloud of ash hung loosely in the air. The entire city was engulfed in a huge inferno. He felt his stomach drop.

 _Sabo's there._

Without a second thought, Ace took off. He bare feet hit the dirt where he stumbled. Grimacing, he steadied himself and began to sprint towards Gray Terminal, steeling himself to the protests his aching body was giving him.

All he knew was one thing. He had to save Sabo.

* * *

Luffy sat up in bed and rubbed at his crusty eyes. His dream was seeping away and slowly he was returning to reality. He looked around the room tiredly. Light danced on the walls in a deep orange color.

With a start, Luffy stood and sniffed at the air, sending him into a coughing fit. Smoke was blowing through the open window and pooling at the ceiling of the hut. Outside a fire was encroaching.

"Ace! Dadan!" Luffy cried out desperately. He turned to look back but a low sound caught his attention. _Was that… whistling?_

A beat passed, then the entire world up-heaved. An earth shattering explosion swelled up and burst, sending wood and glass everywhere. Luffy was thrown from the hut and smashed into a nearby trunk with a sickening smack. Shrapnel shrieked past him in dizzying arcs. His ears rang hopelessly. Luffy struggled to regain his breath. He looked down in confusion and stared blankly at the large scrap of wood that now grew curiously from his stomach. His hands were unsteady but he managed to bring them up and feel at the new strange part attached to his body. It was slick, and a thick liquid was pulsating out with each heartbeat.

 _Ace? Sabo?_

Luffy wondered dully. The world was starting to go grey and he couldn't feel a thing. His eyes watered at the smoke but his body was too heavy to care. A thick bubble of blood pooled in his mouth where he sent it out with a hacking cough.

 _Dadan? Dogra? Magra?_

Where was everyone?

His senses were beginning to fail. Slowly his eyes began to close. A figure seemed to be emerging from the world of smoke but Luffy could hardly tell what was real. A voice was calling in his head. A woman's voice. Quiet and pristine, it rang like a bell.

 _Luffy…_

The woman was saying something to him. All he could see were her lips, mouthing words at him. A small smile. The woman leaned in to pull him into a hug. He felt so small. She was whispering something into his ear.

 _Luffy…_

He was being embraced tightly. It felt so warm. A sort of peace was flowing over him in soft waves, almost like he was laying at the beach. The sun felt nice on his skin and the smell of salt was in the air.

"Luffy!"

The voice pulled him from his thoughts and he opened his eyes once more. He was being held in a tight grip by a fairly large man wearing a white coat. The man's eyes were squeezed shut and tears were coursing down the aged wrinkles in his face.

"Grandpa?" Luffy asked weakly.

Vice-Admiral Garp's eyes shot open suddenly. He looked down at the broken boy in his arms before drawing a breath that had seemingly been lost for minutes. The boy was incredibly pale, he could see that even through the increasingly thick smoke. Garp had pulled him off of a tree where he was being pinned up by a snapped board that had gone through his stomach. Blood was running thickly down the boy's sides. Garp had done his best to pull the wound closed but he was no doctor.

"Luffy listen, it's going to be okay." he managed to say through the sobs that had been wracking his body.

"Ace… Sabo…" Luffy sounded out weakly.

"Luffy I'm going to get you help, you're going to be okay." Garp reassured both the boy and himself. He was running as fast as he could without jostling Luffy in his arms. The smoke was making it a slow progress. The cannonfire had not let up and the entire world was burning.

Looking up he found the source of a streaking whistle. Steeling himself he folded his large body over the small boy in his arms as a cannonball crashed into his back with a tremendous force. The old man grimaced and the iron ball shattered on his turned back, it's shrapnel impaling the ground around him. Hot thick tears fell from his eyes onto Luffy's blanched face below.

After a second he straightened again and forged onward. The smoke was thinning somewhat and Garp soon found himself in what was left of Gray Terminal. Regaining his confidence he put on a burst of speed and ran towards the distant ocean.

He covered the stretch of land at an inhuman pace, his strides sometimes meters at a time. Within minutes he was at the shore. The smoke had cleared almost entirely and he could see the horizon clearly. Below his feet the waves lapped gently at the shore, oblivious to the wanton destruction occurring close by.

Panting, he caught his breath before looking down at the figure in his arms. The boy's hands were wrapped around a few of Garp's large and rough fingers. They were growing cold. With a small panic he scanned the horizon and with a relief, spotted his ship nearby.

A few seconds later and he was being ushered quickly onto a tiny raft and ferried to the battleship. Sailors were talking into his ear but he could hardly hear them. The raft was lifted by pulleys onto the deck of the humongous battleship where his right-hand man was standing waiting for him.

Upon seeing the small boy in his superior's arms, Bogard wordlessly turned and motioned for help.

Garp collapsed on the deck and pulled Luffy into a hug. His tears were flowing freely now. They fell in huge drops onto the boy and the deck below. Luffy was unconscious but small quiet breaths still rose unevenly.

Hands pulled the boy out of Garp's arms, and more hands reached to restrain him as he fought back. The boy was rushed off and Garp was left in ruins on the deck of the ship. The sailors that had restrained him started to disperse, with more duties to see to, and soon it was just the grizzled Vice-Admiral and his right-hand man.

Bogard stood by and silently watched the island burn, a complicated expression on his face, as next to him in a crumpled heap, Garp began to sob.

* * *

Ace stumbled through the undergrowth blindly.

Somewhere along the way he had lost his sense of direction. Smoke had gathered in the leaves above, blotting out any external light. Fires leapt from tree to tree, crackling and popping and sending dancing shadows all across the forest floor. The heat was sweltering.

"Damnit!" Ace coughed. It was starting to get to him. The lack of oxygen sent a funny feeling through him leaving him weightless.

He shoved his way through the thick foliage, taking care to avoid already burning patches of brush. With one hand he shielded his stinging eyes. Every few seconds a new series of coughs wracked his body. His throat was already dry and he could feel the ash caking the insides of his mouth.

He had to find his way out of the forest soon. With a brief feeling of hopelessness, Ace wondered if he would die to the fires or if he would first succumb to the increasingly sparse amounts of oxygen.

Finally he managed to shove his way into what seemed to be a clearing, although the haze was making it hard to tell. He stumbled forwards blindly into the burning air. Suddenly his feet seemed to miss the ground and he was lurching forwards. Half a second later and he fell, splashing into a shallow pool of water.

It was warm, and ash coated the surface of the pond in a thick film. Coughing and choking, Ace extracted himself from the pool. He splashed water on his face and gurgled some in an attempt to get the thick dust out of his mouth. It tasted awful.

Wading his way through the muck, he followed the shoreline. He figured it would be safer to stay in the water than risk the fires of the forest. Soon the water was running and the ashy film had cleared away. The temperature of the water was dropping with the flow. He found himself making steady progress.

The smoke was still thick and hung low over the water, and Ace could hardly see where he was going. Above him and along the stream, animals were fleeing the blaze. And through it all, the dull, steady sound of cannonfire continued.

Again Ace began to wonder just what was going on. He thought about going back to make sure Luffy was safe. But that optioned seemed to have disappeared with the ever increasing wall of smoke. It would be impossible to find his way back, nor could he worry about his original reason for running off. Sabo and Luffy would have to wait, All Ace could do was try and survive.

The stream was moving faster now, almost too fast to stand in. Ace struggled his way through the water, grasping desperately at the slick rocks that surrounded him. If he got swept off his feet now, he would surely find his death among the fast moving currents and sharp rocks.

With a panic, Ace realized that the pounding ground was growing stronger. The shaking of the earth grew stronger as the barrage of cannonfire swung his way. He tried to make haste, but the rocks at the bottom of the river were too slick and precarious. A sharp whistling followed and Ace squeezed his eyes shut in a desperate prayer.

Behind him, several dozen meters up the river from where Ace was, the cannonball struck with terrifying force. Sand, rocks and water exploded everywhere. A wave of water displaced by the tremendous force rushed down the river towards him. With a strangled cry, he was swept off his feet in a burst of water.

Several flurried seconds later Ace managed to break the surface of the water and take in a huge gulp of air before he was pulled below again. Every few seconds his small frame would crash against a rock before slipping along again. The air would escape his body and he would desperately claw towards the surface for another breath.

Suddenly Ace was out of the water and into the air. He felt his stomach drop and he let loose a scream as the ground below him rose up to meet him. He squeezed his eyes shut once more and prayed once again as he steeled himself for the impending crash.

But his prayers went unanswered.

Just as suddenly as he started, his entire body was stopped by the unmovable force of the ground. Several loud pops and snaps echoed off of the rocks as he landed in a sickening crunch. Water rained down in cascades above him and he desperately choked for breath. With a final push he managed to pull himself from beneath the waterfall and take in his first breath in what felt like minutes.

The water fell incessantly on his back and legs, and each torrent of water sent agonizing pain up his entire body. Every time he tried to move his legs, the agony nearly caused him to black out.

Ace began to slip between consciousness. Deliriously he raked in breaths as he tried to keep up with his frantically beating heart. With a fierce determination he pulled himself back to reality and set his eyes on the nearby shore. All he could do now was get to shore. He could think about what came next afterwards.

With a swing, Ace managed to move his left arm forward where he weakly grasped for a handhold. Finally he found it and slowly inched himself forwards. He stopped several times to avoid losing consciousness. A dozen breathless seconds later and he was fully out from under the waterfall. Without the never ending pressure of falling water, his body was free to scream at him. For several minutes Ace lay there, teeth clenched as a new force crashed through his body in waves. Finally he got used to the pain and prepared to continue.

He set his teeth and threw his other arm forward before he suddenly cried out again. His vision flashed red, then white. His right arm seemed to be broken. Several seconds later and it cleared away. He caught his breath. His face was covered in hot liquid and he briefly wondered what part water, tears and blood it was.

Then he refocused at the task at hand. Using his left arm again he began to drag himself from the river.

What felt like an eternity later, Ace was on dry ground. He was completely exhausted.

 _Next._

His breathing was shallow but he was already focusing on what he needed to do next. His eyes wandered before settling on the closest tree. Ace squeezed his eyes shut before steeling himself. Then he began to drag himself forward again.

Nearly half an hour later He was propped up against the trunk of the tree. The cannons were still firing in the distance and the smoke was drawing ever closer. Ace felt the tears start to form again, hot and stinging.

A small voice whispered at the back of his head. _You won't be able to escape this one._

Again he wondered about his brothers, and even Dadan and the others. His mind began to wander. For several minutes he slipped between dreaming and reality almost seamlessly.

Suddenly he realized someone was standing in front of him. He had no way of telling how long the man had been standing there. He never saw him approach, although he could have been unconscious during that time.

Ace's eyes wandered up the man's body slowly.

He was wearing a thick green cloak, which was disturbingly clean to the ash in the air. His eyes found the man's face. It was emotionless, almost like a statue. The man's black eyes bore into his and Ace found himself entranced completely. The fires around him completely faded away and all that existed was the man and Ace.

A large red tattoo covered the man's face. He was completely clean. All around him the ash seemed to move in streams, completely avoiding him. For what seemed like forever, the two stared.

Finally the man broke the silence.

"You're Gol D. Roger's son."

His voice was even. Almost as if he was talking about the weather.

Ace couldn't respond. His body wouldn't move. His tears stung his caked cheeks once again.

 _Useless._

Ace closed his eyes and the world began to fade away. All he could feel was helplessness.

Helpless that he couldn't move, or even respond to the man in front of him. Helpless that he couldn't save his brothers. Helpless that he couldn't live out his dreams or prove the world wrong.

Helpless that on his dying breath, he was only remembered as his father's son.

* * *

 **Several Days Later**

Luffy awoke slowly in an unfamiliar bed. The ceiling was unfamiliar too, and so were the walls. The sheets were strangely soft and the bed was temptingly warm. So for a long while Luffy just lay there and dozed, without a care. The sound of waves lulled him to sleep over and over.

But eventually the unfamiliarity began to take hold and his mind decided it was important. So Luffy fell out of sleep slowly and comfortably. After a moment he sat up in the strange bed and looked around.

The walls were white and blue, and the room was sparse but clean and comfortable. On the nightstand next to him was a glass of water and a small lamp. The walls were bare save a small closet across from him and a round porthole to his right. The sun was beginning to stream into the room, breaking up the cold with a comfortable beam of light.

Luffy took a much needed drink from the cup beside him. It wasn't cold, but wasn't warm either. It had been there for awhile it seemed. He noticed with some discomfort that drinking the water made his stomach ache with a dull pain. He looked down to find a thick white gauze wrapped around his body neatly.

Faintly, he could hear the sound of footsteps above him, and occasionally a voice or two. Outside, waves were breaking against the hull of what must be a ship, masking any other sounds that might be present.

Slowly, the memories of all that transpired came back to Luffy. Soon he was soundlessly crying. Tears fell swiftly but silently to the sheets below him.

He cried for a long time. There was no clock in the room so he couldn't be sure how long, but the sun had passed the porthole and there was no longer a beam of morning light across his bed. He had stopped crying at some point but hadn't moved. The tears were long dry but Luffy still sat.

Finally the doors opened.

Stooping to fit under the low door, Luffy's grandfather entered the room carrying a tray. Luffy watched him enter but made no comment. Once inside, Garp looked towards the bed.

"Luffy! You're awake!" Garp cried in a voice filled with emotion.

Taking care not to drop the tray, Garp rushed over to the bedside. He set the tray down on the nightstand and threw his arms around the small boy sitting in bed. Luffy hugged him back tightly, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Grandpa…" he whispered.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Garp responded in kind.

Finally they parted. Garp sat on the edge of the bed, his huge frame leaving little room. His head was stooped so as not to hit it on the low ceiling. He looked at Luffy and smiled a great big grin. He had clearly been worried.

"I knew you would be though. You're my grandson after all!" Garp chuckled heartily.

"Grandpa, where is Ace?" Luffy asked.

Garp cast his eyes down, losing his smile.

"I could only find you, Luffy." he finally responded.

"Oh." Luffy replied.

He was unusually quiet. Garp felt like his heart was being crushed just looking at his young grandson's face. There was nothing he could say. No matter how much he thought, there was just nothing he could say.

"Here, I brought you food." Garp finally forced out.

He clumsily grabbed the tray and started naming off the food. When he was finished, he looked towards his grandson who showed no interest in any of it. He sighed and set the tray back down and grabbed the boy's shoulder and squeezed it, hoping to comfort the boy where words could not.

Minutes passed. Garp stood and gave a last look at Luffy.

"Luffy, I have work to do I can't stay here forever. I'll be back at dinner okay?" he said somberly.

"Where are we going?" Luffy asked suddenly.

Garp looked surprised at the sudden question.

"Marineford." he finally said simply.

Luffy made no response, and so after a moment Garp quietly left the room, the tray of food left untouched on the nightstand.

* * *

Ace woke much more suddenly than his brother had.

The sound of firecrackers snapped the boy from his sleep instantly, and set his heart on edge. A loud cheer followed. Then, uproarious laughing. Ace took a deep breath and attempted to calm his racing heart.

With a bit of struggling, he managed to sit up and look around. He was in an impossibly cramped room, entirely constructed from untreated wood. The sound of rhythmic stomping sent small clouds of dust from the ceiling.

The only source of light was a low burning oil lamp that hung from the ceiling by wire.

More firecrackers went off somewhere above him.

"Yer awake." A nasally voice made itself known.

Ace whipped his head around and found the source. A middle aged man wearing grungy clothes sat next to him in a creaking chair. In his hand was a large bottle of some sort of alcohol. The man's blush and several empty bottles nearby gave away just how much the man had been drinking.

He let out a wheezing laugh and winked at the boy.

"Of course ye are, I fixed ye right up wit' me own hands." he slurred which sent him into another laughing fit. When he finished, he took another long swig from his bottle, then let out a belch.

Ace looked down at his own body carefully. His right arm was restrained by a cast, and judging by the bulge and ache of his legs beneath the covers, they were held by cast as well. With a grimace, Ace attempted to lift his leg which only served to send a sharp wave of pain up his side.

Next to him the man laughed again. Another swig and another belch.

"Ye probly shouldn' try that boy," he mumbled good naturedly. "It twas broken in s'many pieces, could be a puzzle!"

With a sigh and a grunt, the man pulled himself to his feet.

"Aye, I'll go get ye the cap'n."

With that, the man stumbled his way out the door, letting it swing shut behind him. Ace was left alone with his thoughts and the sound of stomping and laughter above. He figured he was on board some sort of ship because the room was swaying dangerously. But how he got there, he had no idea. The last thing he could remember was the burning forest and some man in a cloak.

His reverie was broken when the door swung open suddenly again, and three people shuffled in, one by one. The first was a man in a black cloak and deep red hair. He seemed to be missing an arm, but in the other he clutched a large bottle of alcohol. Three long scars clawed their way darkly over one of his eyes, but his entire face was smiling in contrast.

Behind him was a rather serious looking man with greying black hair. A cigarette hung on his lips and a large rifle was looped through a yellow sash on his waist. The man who followed him was the drunk from before.

The first one spoke up as soon as he entered.

"Oi, you're looking good." the red haired man grinned.

Ace eyed the new faces wearily. He didn't recognize any of them. For a moment they all just stared at each other. Ace could feel the tension in the air. He felt like a huge weight was pressing down on him, and the source was the two newcomers that entered the room.

Suddenly the red haired one burst out laughing as if he had been holding it in. Tears streamed down his face and he doubled over, crossing his single arm over his stomach.

"Hey do you see the look on his face?!" he laughed loudly. Beside him the more serious one only sighed and let out a small smile.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. Beside him the red haired man was trying to regain composure. The third man from before only grinned and shuffled out of the room, leaving Ace alone with these new men.

"Who are you guys? Where am I?" Ace questioned angrily. He already didn't like the way the red haired man was treating him. This only sent the red haired man into a further fit of laughter.

"Stop! Stop!" he wheezed, as he tried to catch his breath. Ace ground his teeth and glared at the duo. The black haired man put a hand on his face and shook his head. He let out a sigh and looked back up at the boy.

"Don't worry about him. You're on board our ship, we're about to enter the New World." the man answered one of Ace's questions. Next to him, the red haired man seemed to have straightened up and stopped laughing.

"I'm Shanks, and this is Benn Beckman." the red haired man answered.

With a start, Ace realized who he was speaking to. These were a pair of pirates, and Luffy's idols at that. How did he get aboard their ship? And what did he mean they were entering 'The New World?'

Shanks grinned at the boy and plopped down in the seat next to him, but made no move to say more. Benn Beckman leaned against the wall across from him and took a long drag on his cigarette.

"Shanks? The pirate?" was all Ace managed to say.

"Oh so you know about me? That must be because of Luffy." Shanks laughed again. Suddenly the door burst open again and a young woman ran into the room. After quickly finding Ace, she ran up and threw her arms around him and held him tightly.

Ace blushed and tried to push back.

"Makino what are you doing here?" he asked, unsuccessfully using one arm to push her off. The woman was crying into his shoulder and mumbling unintelligible words. Finally she sat back and released the boy. She took a second to wipe her eyes before speaking up.

"Ace, you're okay, I'm glad." she smiled. Both of the other men were smiling at the exchange. Ace felt his face burning. His mind scrambled for words to recover from the embarrassing situation he felt he was in.

"Of course I am." was all he managed to mumble out before he looked away from the green haired woman. That sent Shanks into a huge uproarious laughing fit next to him, causing him to go even more red in the face.

"Anyway, what are you doing here? Where is Luffy and the others?" Ace shouted, trying to quickly change the subject. Suddenly the mood turned somber, and all three of the others lost their smiles. Ace felt his stomach squeeze.

"Well it seems like Luffy is safe, anyway," Shanks let out, breaking the silence. "Apparently Garp got to him before the fires did."

Ace's mind flashed back to the cannons and the roaring blaze. Sitting on the bed before him, Makino's eyes began to water. She looked away from Ace's questioning face and furiously wiped at her betraying eyes.

Behind her, Beckman spoke.

"Your island, the Goa Kingdom suffered from a Buster Call. It's completely destroyed as of now."

Ace felt his world crumbling around him. His stomach plummeted. Makino was crying freely now, her head resting on his shoulder, an arm pulled around him. Next to him Shanks had a complicated expression on his face, his eyes far away and his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

"Destroyed?" Ace managed to choke out. "Why?"

"It seems there was an unfortunate incident with a Celestial Dragon, a world noble that is." Beckman responded.

All Ace could feel was confusion and anger. He couldn't put his thoughts into words, just images of all the people floating through his head. Dadan and the bandits, The villagers from where Luffy and Makino came from, the people living in Gray Terminal. Sabo.

"Luffy's safe? What about Sabo?" Ace questioned suddenly.

The two older men looked at each other with confused expressions. Makino looked up at Ace with tears in her eyes.

Ace's stomach turned into a knot.

"Where's Sabo?" Ace questioned again, hoping beyond hope that they would give him the answer he needed.

Shanks looked at him and chose his words carefully.

"When you were dropped off here, there was no mention of another boy."

Ace couldn't hear the renewed cries of Makino, or the string of words Beckman seemed to be saying across from him. All he could picture was the burning city below him. Tears began to sting at the corners of his eyes. Why couldn't he get to the city? Why was he so weak?

"Who brought me here? Why didn't he bring Sabo instead!" Ace shouted, anger in his eyes and voice.

When nobody seemed to be willing to give an answer, Ace felt fury beginning to build up inside.

"Why were you saved?!" he screamed at Makino in front of him. "What about everyone else?!"

As soon as he said it, he knew that it wasn't fair to her. She was crying again, but this time not comforting him with an embrace. The two men didn't say anything and their faces gave nothing away. Ace slumped down. He finally let the tears fall freely.

"I'm sorry." he whispered between his tears. The only confirmation he got was a small nod and continued sobs. For awhile they sat and cried. The two men seemed content to let them, and to wait, and so they cried.

Finally Ace realized he wasn't crying anymore. His sobs had turned into sniffles and his tears had begun to dry. Makino seemed to have fallen asleep at the foot of the bed. Ace looked around the room. Shanks and Beckman were both still there. Both of them looked distant, lost in their minds.

Ace broke the silence.

"Where are we going?"

Shanks looked up in surprise, but then flashed a grin.

"Feeling better?" the red haired man questioned. Ace nodded. He really was, he felt he could think clearly now. He didn't think he had quite accepted that his brothers might be dead, but he decided to put that away for another time.

Shanks looked up thoughtfully. "Well, my ship is no place for a child."

Ace frowned at the red haired man and looked about to say something.

"I know a guy though. Always babbling on about a family. So I'm taking you there." Shanks gave off another cheeky grin. Ace looked at him skeptically. First he had been saved by some unknown man in a green cloak, and presumably he was given to Shanks. Now he was being given away again?

"A family?" he asked, deadpan.

Shanks laughed. "Oh I think you'll like this one."

* * *

 **High Above the Clouds, Mariejois**

Five men sat quietly in a spacious room.

Although they didn't look like much, these were the five most powerful men in the world.

Maybe not in terms of overwhelming strength, or possibly even intelligence, but they did have one major advantage over any other man. They happened to be the supreme leaders of the World Government, which like the name suggests, controlled most of the world.

Suffice to say, when it came to these men, their words held the most power. With a few words from one of these men, countries could be destroyed, millions of lives erased. All from the comfort of the marble room they sat now.

Sure, there were a lot of things they couldn't just decide to word away. There were crews of powerful pirates out there who could rival even the strongest in their military. But largely, by these men's design, the power was kept in balance and the pirates kept to themselves. And they liked to tell themselves that if they truly wanted these groups gone, that they could manage it.

So it was a strange feeling these men had begun to feel over the past few days. A feeling they hadn't felt in… well ever really. That was the feeling of being powerless.

On the table between the five men was a series of photographs, taken from somewhere high. The subject of these photographs was a blurry but still recognizable face. One of their own, a Celestial Dragon, sat covered in injuries and probably unconscious, on the deck of some ship.

In another photograph, a man was caught dragging the celestial dragon across the deck of the ship. This man wore a deep green cloak and seemed to have a large red facial tattoo. In another photograph the Celestial Dragon had disappeared, most likely inside the ship, and the man in the green cloak stood alone on the deck.

In the last photograph, This man was looking straight at the camera with an expressionless face. Almost tauntingly.

The five most powerful men in the room recognized the face. But none of that was the source of their feeling. Not the captured world noble, not the recognizable face of one of the most dangerous men in the world.

What made them feel absolutely powerless, was with all their resources and men, and all their networks of spies and soldiers, they could not discover a clue or a shred of evidence that pointed to where this man had gone.

In one moment he and his ship with the captured world noble was somewhere off the coast of the Goa Kingdom in the East Blue, and the next, he was gone. Ship and all.

* * *

 **Somewhere**

The Celestial Dragon awoke in the dark, his entire body groaning.

He hadn't really felt much pain before in his life. He always wore a protective layer of clothing and a sort of bubble around his head. He even had his own supply of air so as not to breathe in anything particularly nasty.

And so he was surprised at how much it, well hurt. Every second, his body incessantly told him that he was injured, with waves of aching pain. With some surprise he realized that he wasn't wearing anything. His wrists and ankles were restrained by some sort of chain that he couldn't see in the dark, but made their presence known by the way they rubbed his skin raw.

His body was absolutely covered in bruises, almost as if he had been dragged for miles.

This was all without mentioning how incredibly hot it was. While he was asleep, his skin had released bucket loads of sweat, but now he seemed to have run out of liquid. His mouth was incredibly dry, his tongue flapping around his mouth like a piece of sandpaper.

Finally after what felt like an eternity, a rectangle square of light appeared across from him. In the door a tall silhouette of a man stood for a moment before striding forward. A dry wind followed him. The world noble could feel the man approach. When he was within inches, the man stopped. His eyes shown through the darkness, a pool of white and black. A timeless moment later, the man spoke.

"My name is Monkey D. Dragon. I have some questions for you."

* * *

 **Next time: The Gears Begin to Move**

 **I actually like the way this chapter turned out. I think it pays to slow down and focus on what a character is feeling and experiencing in the moment instead of mindlessly describing action from above. I'm only coming through to edit some errors I had found, but compared to some of the later chapters I've written, I think I prefer this writing style to my later ones. I may have to go through and edit or rewrite chapters in the future for my own happiness. I'll let you guys know though.  
**

 **Please, let me know what you think. See you guys next time!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Beginning

**Note: Like chapter 1, this chapter is a lightly edited chapter from my abandoned (and deleted) story "To the Top." This is the last chapter that will contain anything from this old story.**

 **(I know this is relevant information to basically… nobody, but I just want to be clear just in case.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The Beginning**

 **10 years later**

Nico Robin fiddled with the torn note absently. It had been two weeks since she had received it from some unknown messenger, and she still didn't know what to think of it. Below her, a very large turtle was chomping away at a burning cigar as he plodded through the desert. The wind was dry and arid and there was nothing but sand for miles. She folded and unfolded the note again.

 _What you are looking for is not in Alabasta. In three weeks, go to the remains of the Goa Kingdom for more information._

 _Monkey D. Dragon_

The man who had delivered it was familiar to her, if only in name. She hadn't even heard him approach. This frightened her of course. Almost nobody could reach her undetected, and he was such a large man. Bartholomew Kuma. What did a warlord of the sea have to do with the revolutionaries? And what did the revolutionaries have to do with her?

The elegant woman sighed softly and reclined back and folded the note once again. She had it memorized weeks ago. Keeping it on her was actually dangerous at this point. But she couldn't bring herself to throw it away.

 _What you are looking for is not in Alabasta._

It bothered her. How could the leader of the revolutionaries and probably one of the most dangerous men in the world, have any idea what she was looking for? It also bothered her that they evidently knew where she was.

Baroque Works was incredibly secretive, and she had gone through great lengths to conceal her involvement. Safety was in anonymity for someone like her after all.

 _In three weeks, go to the remains of the Goa Kingdom for more information._

What could they want from her? Her body chilled as she considered the many possibilities. The government obviously deemed her a threat for understanding the ancient language. Was the goal of the revolutionaries to use her to their advantage?

They were so close now, a trip to the East Blue would not only look suspicious, but could ruin her only chances of getting at the goal she had spent the past few years working towards. Still, she could hardly help it as the idea played through her mind over and over. Crocodile would not be pleased.

"What do you think Banchi?" Robin asked quietly, rubbing the weathered shell of the animal below her. The turtle did not respond.

* * *

 **A Few Miles Off the Coast of Goa**

"The revolutionaries are currently in the remains of what was Goa Kingdom, though I'm not close enough to see what they are doing, Joker." a short woman with long green hair spoke softly into a den den mushi. She was seated in a small boat with a single sail, an idle flurry of snowflakes falling around her.

"Then observe them for now. Once they move, let me know. If my intel is right, they seem to be after the demon child of Ohara." the voice came crackling through the transponder snail. "And Monet, try and avoid killing any marines this time."

Monet smiled and licked her lips. "I'll try Joker."

With that, she hung up. The snow seemed to pick up speed around her and the boat slowly started drifting towards the island in the distance. The girl stretched, then took her top off, revealing a bikini underneath. She let out a small yawn and laid back as if tanning. The snow started to pile softly upon her bare skin, but Monet paid no mind to it.

She twirled her hand through her hair thoughtfully and stuck out her tongue. A small snowflake settled upon it. Curiously, the snow seemed to be only falling around her boat. The weather was bright and blue all around. The wind seemed to pick up, and the boat settled into a decent pace. Seemingly satisfied, Monet relaxed further into her place on the deck.

 _Hopefully something interesting will happen_. A sadistic smile spread across her face. Her unnerving yellow eyes watched the horizon as if a hawk observing its prey. A few moments later she closed her eyes and let the snow form around her in a blanket.

* * *

 **Marineford**

"Kuzannnnnnn! Fight mee!" Luffy whined as he trailed the taller man. He had been bothering him for almost ten minutes, but the admiral seemed to pay no mind. Over the years he had gotten quite used to the boy. Secretly he was rather fond of him, though he would never let him know that.

After arriving at Marineford ten years prior, the rubber boy had found a new rival in him. He would constantly seek the admiral out in order to challenge him to a duel, of which he never won. But Luffy never seemed to give up. Still, Aokiji liked to indulge the boy. He admired his tenacious spirit and seemingly unwavering good will.

With a small smile, Aokiji remembered the first time he had met Luffy.

 _"Luffy! How dare you say such a thing to the fleet admiral!" Garp scolded. Luffy just looked away with his cheeks filled with air, a glare on his face. Garp growled at the boy. What a troublesome child. He would have to lecture the boy with his fists._

 _"Ah Garp. You're back. And you brought... ah how should I say it... Well never mind." A very tall and slightly lanky man had found them in the hall. On his forehead rest a sleeping mask. He had a bored expression on his face._

 _"Ah Kuzan!" Garp looked up at the taller man. "I heard you got promoted again! That makes you my superior!" Garp laughed loudly. Aokiji scratched the back of his head thoughtfully. Then he leaned down and looked into Luffy's eyes curiously._

 _Luffy shivered. The air had suddenly gone frigid, and the man's eyes were drilling into him. He looked up at the marine in fascination. Soon he was pulling on the man's pant leg and showering him with questions._

 _"Cool! What's that mask for? Why don't you use your sleeves? So you're stronger than grandpa? Do you punch like him? How come you're so cold? Did you eat a devil fruit? Why is your hair so funny?"_

 _Aokiji looked down at him with surprise as he tried to pull the clinging boy off._

 _"Oh your arms stretch... You must have eaten a devil fruit. As for your questions well... ah what's the word... well never mind." Aokiji managed to detach the boy from his leg and placed him down. After a glance at Garp, the taller man leaned down and held out his hand to the younger boy. Luffy watched in fascination as ice started forming on the palm of his hand, twisting, shaping, and cracking into a small figure._

 _Aokiji handed Luffy the ice sculpture of a dog, then straightened to talk with Garp. With Luffy distracted, Garp turned towards the other marine and chuckled._

 _"I didn't know you were so nice to children Kuzan."_

 _With his words, the admiral's thoughts went reeling back to a certain island many years ago. He shuddered as he remembered the events that had transpired there on Ohara. He scratched his head thoughtfully._

 _"Well... You know..." he droned. "Anyway. Who is this kid?"_

 _"My grandson! This is Luffy!" Garp responded with pride. Meanwhile Luffy had a distraught look on his face as he had managed to snap the figure in half. Soon Luffy was pulling on the pant leg of the admiral again._

 _"Grandson huh... That means... Ah... Well I forget... Anyway, are you going to be training him?" he asked, ignoring the boy below him. Garp chuckled at him, grateful for the change of subject. His son was a bit of a touchy subject among the higher up marines who were privy to the knowledge._

 _"About that. I have some… things to take care of in the New World. I was wondering if you could maybe look after him for a bit." Garp responded. Aokiji scratched his head in thought._

 _"Ah.. I'll think about it... But right now I have to go in there… Sengoku wanted to see me because... Well... I forget."_

 _Garp rumbled with laughter. "Okay we'll see you in a bit. Luffy! Lets go!" he shouted. Soon he was wrestling with Luffy to get him to detached from the admiral. With a bit of a small smile, Aokiji turned and left them to their devices. Maybe in some way he could atone for what he had done before._

With some thought, Aokiji wondered at how Luffy had changed so drastically yet so little in his ten years at Marineford. He had grown tremendously, but at the same time seemed to keep his childlike wonder as well as his simple views on the world.

Garp had been rather upset about the events in Goa and had rampaged across the New World for a few weeks, smashing in any pirates he had come across. And so he had passed the training duties of his grandson off to the admiral. Eventually he came around and was willing to teach Luffy again, but by that time the two had bonded closely. And so Luffy had gained a second teacher. Between Garp and Aokiji, the boy grew very quickly. Much to his grandfather's ire, Aokiji had taught the boy the basics of observation haki.

He seemed to have a natural tendency for it, and Aokiji did not want the talent to go wasted. Still, he held off on teaching the boy to master armament haki, and refused to even acknowledge the presence of his conqueror's spirit. It had surprised him at first, but since then he was careful to not react whenever the boy unwittingly released it.

The boy was still too wild and unpredictable to be given such dangerous tools, he had conceded once Garp had challenged him over it. And so he stuck to tutoring the boy on how to not get hit.

"Come onnnnn! I'm definitely gonna win this time!" Luffy continued complaints brought the tall man back into the present.

"Not now Luffy. I have a mission in the East Blue. It seems the revolutionaries are causing trouble again." he responded in a bored tone. He yawned and continued striding to the docks. Such missions weren't very interesting to say the least. They almost never got to the scene on time and just played weeks of chase.

"Really?! Bring me with you! I'm ready for a fight!" Luffy cried with excitement.

Aokiji stopped and looked at the boy thoughtfully. Much to Sengoku's complaints, Luffy had always refused to wear any sort of marine uniform. Instead he stood in casual wear, with his usual straw hat utop his head. Still, the boy was incredibly strong and talented. If he was honest, Aokiji could rate him as strong as a some of the lower vice admirals on the island. Well, maybe if the boy was more serious.

He scratched his head in thought. Garp would probably be against it. Garp had always been wary of Luffy's goal to become a pirate. Luffy never lost his spirit and dream, though he did seem to have learned to restrain himself around some of the more strict marines. Still. Aokiji wondered if Luffy really would try and go become a pirate if given the chance.

The boy was just too pure for that world. He just couldn't believe he would ever actually run off to become a pirate. Or if he did, he would quickly realize what that world was really like and return.

"Ah... I guess... Fine you can come." Aokiji responded finally. Luffy cheered loudly and began running ahead. Aokiji just stared after him mutely with a small smile on his lips. He really was a good kid.

* * *

 **One Week Later**

"Cold!" Luffy shouted, trying to pull free from where ice had stuck him to the deck. Aokiji chuckled as he watched the young boy struggle. With a growl, Luffy broke free and charged at the admiral, pulling back a punch. He was a blur as he let loose a volley of attacks, but the admiral was faster. With a seemingly fluid motion, he bobbed ad swayed around the attacks effortlessly. Luffy leapt up with a grunt.

"Gear second!" he shouted. Steam billowed out of his limbs as he faced down at the bored looking admiral. He pulled back his leg into an arc.

"gomu gomu no jet stamp!" he screamed, sending his leg into the deck at supersonic speeds. Aokiji dodged easily and jumped back as the deck collapsed downwards. He tutted.

"Luffy, don't damage the ship!" he called up at the boy, easily dodging the oncoming flurry of punches. Behind him the cabin was being obliterated, and marine grunts were running around frantically. Aokiji lifted a finger upwards and a huge wall of ice shot skyward. Luffy paused his assault and jumped away. The wall of ice thinned into a spike and followed the boy through the air, spiraling higher.

Then, Luffy turned and shot downwards passed the ice, which exploded as it collided into itself. As he rifled towards the ground, he made subtle turns in the air to avoid oncoming ice missiles. With a rocket, he smashed into the already ruined deck, inches from where his opponent had just been standing. The wood started to crack and ice rapidly built out of it encasing the boy inside a dome.

"Luffy, I told you to stop damaging the ship." Aokiji drawled in a bored tone. A marine next to him was shouting, trying to get the two to stop their duel, but they both ignored him. With a crash and a cry, Luffy broke out of the dome and shot forward. With a war cry, he shot his hands backwards.

"gomu gomu no jet bazooka!" he screamed and let loose the attack.

Aokiji accepted the oncoming blow with his hands, and Luffy slowed to a crawl as ice froze up his arms and onto his chest.

"Gah! Cold!" he whined, flailing his arms around.

"You're still not strong enough Luffy. What does that make it? Loss 15,000?" Aokiji asked, walking towards the boy. With a wave of his hand, the ice shattered and fell off the shivering figure.

"No! That was... like 7!" Luffy complained with a frown. He rubbed his arms against his sides, trying to regain his warmth. The truth was that Luffy never bothered to count. Sure he always lost to his mentor, but eventually he would win and that was all that mattered. At least that's how he saw it anyway.

"Jeez. You made such a mess." the admiral commented. He scratched his head and surveyed the destruction. "Well... It doesn't matter."

The marines around him shouted in protest, but he ignored them.

"Luffy, you still rely on that devil fruit of yours for speed… Garp always tried to teach you shoru but you could only manage it with that… technique of yours… It doesn't look safe, so you should train your body more… Maybe then you can use the techniques your grandfather always drills into you…"

Luffy only huffed in response, more focused on his frostbitten hands than the lecture his teacher was giving him.

"Well…" Aokiji scratched his head absentmindedly. "How close are we to... Well... Wherever we're going?" he questioned the officer next to him. The man straightened to attention.

"It should be on the horizon any moment sir!" he responded with his best official marine voice.

"Ah good... uh... Revolutionaries right?" the admiral asked again as he scanned the horizon.

"Yes sir!"

"Then what's with the pirates?"

The marine looked surprised and called up to the lookout. Hardly a few seconds passed and loud cannon shots were heard. On the horizon a small pirate ship next to a slightly larger cruise ship came into view.

"Sir! Pirates are attacking a cruise ship ahead! It seems they are small time pirates originating here, one Alvida with a 5 million bounty!"

The admiral looked unimpressed.

"Well... I suppose we should do something..." he droned.

"I'll go!" Luffy grinned. Before anyone could respond he shot off towards the ship with a whoop. Behind him trailed his cry,

"Gomu gomu no rocket!"

Aokiji merely sighed. "That boy... Well... I suppose we can go see what's going on. Pull up to them..."

The officer snapped to attention and saluted. Then he turned and started barking orders at the marines on board. The admiral, satisfied with his order, laid down on his chair and covered his eyes with his sleeping mask.

* * *

Over at the ship Luffy was having a great time.

All around him pirates lay crumpled on the ground. He breezed through the remaining figures with ease, dodging all their strikes. He stopped just passed the last ones, and behind them as one the entire group fell. He grinned at the fallen pirates and turned and walked down a set of stairs, whistling. All that fighting got him hungry.

Some of the passengers looked on with awe. That wasn't a fight. It was basically a slaughter. Luffy had appeared out of nowhere and crashed through a wall. When he had emerged, it hadn't been what they expected. Why had some scrawny kid come rocketing into the deck of the ship?

Their thoughts were dashed as he made his way through the pirates like water. They had all crumpled with imprints of fists on their bodies. Before they could blink the entire scuffle was over. Then before they could react he was already walking away down some stairs, whistling and saying something about being hungry.

Meanwhile, Luffy had found an open door. He could hear voices inside, but he was already bored of fighting and just wanted something to eat. Without a care he walked in. The talking stopped but he didn't really pay any mind. He noticed four people inside. Three more of the pirates from above and some puny looking kid with pink hair was cowering behind a barrel from them. Setting them aside he noticed a door at the back. He could smell some kind of food behind it.

Without a word he walked passed the pirates who were looking at him with surprise, and up to the door.

"Oi! Hey kid! Didn't you see us? We're pirates and we're raiding this ship!" one of the pirates behind him shouted. Luffy ignored him and knocked on the door. After receiving no answer he pushed the door open.

"Pardon the intrusion!" he shouted happily as he walked inside.

"What's his problem?" One of the pirates asked another.

"Hey! Are you stupid or something? I'm talking to you!" the first pirate shouted and ran after him. The two figures disappeared. The small boy with pink hair was shaking in fear as he waited for someone to emerge. A huge crash sounded and a large figure rocketed out of the door and into the wall. When the smoke cleared the three of them could see that it was the pirate that had chased after Luffy. They were silent for a moment, waiting for someone else to emerge but nobody came. Soon the sound of rummaging echoed from the next room.

"Hey! What did you do to him kid!" the pirates screamed and ran together into the room. The boy with the pink hair cried out and scrambled to follow them into the room.

"Wait! Don't kill him!" he screamed as he rushed into the room. Two small crashes later and the pirates were knocked out on the ground, their swords snapped in half. Luffy had his back turned and was busy indulging himself to some apples.

"Hey these are good!" he called out happily, seemingly uncaring to everything around him.

"What did you do?!" the pink haired boy shouted as he scrambled down and started checking their pulses.

"Who are you?" Luffy asked casually as he continued to snack away at the food.

"Uh... My name is Coby... Wait! That's what I should be asking you! How did you do that?" Coby screamed again, sweat pouring down his face. He pushed his glasses up onto his nose.

Luffy looked at him with a confused expression. "Huh? Oh I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" he grinned and continued back to his meal.

"But how did you do that? That was amazing!" Coby continued in a loud voice.

"Do what?" Luffy questioned without turning.

"What do you mean what?! How did you beat up those guys! They are mean pirates who show no mercy!" he shouted, clearly vexed.

"Oh. Those guys were weak." Luffy shrugged. "Apple?" he held out an apple to the small shaking boy.

"How can you be so calm! If those guy's friends come looking you're gonna die! What if lady Alvida comes?!" he continued shouting.

"Lady who? Don't worry I won't die." Luffy said and chomped into the apple he was offering. Then he stretched and sighed in content. "Those were good!"

"I guess this is okay... Maybe nobody will find us here..." Coby muttered as he peered out the door. Finally he shut it and turned back towards the lanky boy. "So you said you were Luffy?"

"Yeah!" he grinned. "So are you a pirate or a passenger?" he asked. But then he seemed uninterested and began picking his nose.

Coby didn't notice and began wringing his hands. "Well it all started on that fateful day..."

Luffy didn't seem to be paying attention as Coby went over his story. Once he finished Luffy looked up.

"Oh so you're stupid? I get it." he said simply. Coby collapsed dejectedly.

"I didn't have a choice they would kill me!" he cried.

Luffy pounded his fist in his hand as if in realization. "Oh so you're stupid and a coward! I hate you!" he laughed.

"Jeez you're so honest Luffy..." Coby muttered. How could he be so carefree? Why wasn't he scared of anything? Coby wondered as he watched the older boy get up and stretch.

"So who are you then Luffy? Are you one of the passengers?"

"Huh? No I was with the marines. But I think I'm gonna become the king of pirates now." he responded. Coby's jaw dropped.

"What did you say? You're with the marines? But you want to be the king of the pirates? How does that work? That's impossible. You can't do it! No way no way!" he was suddenly sputtering and muttering quickly. Luffy smacked him on the head with a fist lightly, a thick bonk sounding out.

"Owww... Why'd you hit me?" Coby sobbed.

Luffy shrugged. "I dunno. Felt like it."

"Don't worry I'm used to it." Coby cried quietly.

"Well it doesn't matter. I decided now. I'm gonna become the King of the Pirates. If I die trying to do it, well, then I die!" Luffy said confidently. Coby looked at him in awe, suddenly quiet.

"But I gotta figure out how to get away from the marines now. Kuzan won't like it if I run." Luffy frowned.

Coby didn't seem to be paying attention to his words, just staring at him with wide eyes.

"Hey Luffy do you think I can do it?" he asked suddenly.

Luffy looked at him with confusion. "Do what?" he asked.

"Do you think I could become a marine?"

Luffy grinned. "How am I supposed to know that? Just do what you want."

Coby put on a determined expression. "Okay! I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna become a marine and catch bad guys! It's always been my dream! I'm gonna become a marine and turn around and catch Alvida right away!" he shouted with a more and more determined voice.

"Who are you gonna catch Coby?" A voice sounded from above. Coby squeaked. A huge crashed sounded and the ceiling collapsed inward. Coby yelped in fear and crawled backwards. A huge fat lady was dusting off herself from where the ceiling fell. She wore a strange cowboy outfit that barely fit over her humongous form.

"Lady Alvida! Hey! Ahaha uh nothing I wasn't-"

"Hey Coby... who's the most beautiful lady of the seas?" Alvida cut him off with a low voice, dripping with threat. Coby sputtered.

"Coby who's that fat whale?" Luffy asked simply, pointing at Alvida with one finger. Coby's jaw dropped in shock. Several seconds passed in silence as he tried to regain his voice. A harsh growl crawled out of Alvida's lips as she raised her club. Coby yelped again in fear.

"Okay Coby time to go!" Luffy said, suddenly appearing next to the pink haired boy. Before the club could slam down, Luffy had jumped upwards, carrying Coby in his grip. Luffy landed gracefully, but Coby fell in a heap of limbs. More pirates had crowded the deck. Luffy grinned and cracked his knuckles.

"Okay who's first?" he asked. The pirates roared and charged at him all at once. Luffy looked surprised and started running away. Coby got up to watch the action with fear. Then his eyes widened in shock as he noticed that Luffy's arm was stretching over the length of the entire deck.

"Got ya!" Luffy shouted and came rocketing back, bowling over all the pirates as if they were bowling pins. Then he leapt up and laughed. All around him were dozens of knocked out pirates.

"Whoops." he shouted suddenly and lept out of the way. Just afterwards a large crash came from where he just was and Alvida leaped out, growling. Her eyes fixed on the closest target. She narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"Coby. Who's the most beautiful lady of the seas..?" she spat at the boy.

"That would be..."

Suddenly he stopped and remembered everything he saw from Luffy. If Luffy could do it, then so could he!

"Not you! You're just an ugly worthless disgusting bitch!" he shouted squeezing his eyes shut. Alvida shouted in rage as Luffy erupted in laughter beside him.

"Coby! That's it!" Alvida raised her club and roared. Coby held his ground, although sweat was falling from him in waterfalls.

 _No regrets! I said what I wanted to say! No regrets! No regrets!_

"Well said!" Luffy exclaimed and pushed the boy out of the way. The club landed sickeningly against his head, pushing his form downwards. Coby exclaimed in fear. _No! Luffy died! Nobody can survive that mace!_

"That won't work." Luffy said quietly, a grin spreading across his entire face. "Because I'm made of rubber!" he shouted and launched upward, shattering the mace. Alvida looked at him in surprise.

"What are you?!" she shouted at him.

"Oh. I ate the gomu gomu no mi. I'm a rubber man!" he stated as he pulled on his cheek in demonstration.

"I see. I heard rumors of the devil fruits being real..." she said, narrowing her eyes.

"That's right. Now I'm gonna send you flying!" Luffy said proudly and drew his arms back.

"A puny boy like you can't do anything!" Alvida shouted.

"Gomu gomu no bazooka!" Luffy screamed and smashed his palms into the fat lady. A huge shockwave blew from the blast and Alvida disappeared in a blink of an eye, her fat form flying over the horizon majestically. Luffy watched her go with a grin.

"There." he turned to the wide eyed boy next to him. "Say Coby. You wanted to be a marine?" he asked with sudden interest.

* * *

 **Later**

Aokiji finished up with the passengers. They had received a scare but nothing too bad. Nobody was hurt. The marines had finished rounding up the unconscious pirates that Luffy had left behind. They couldn't find Alvida so she must have escaped. Luffy was nowhere to be found either.

 _Hm. He must be in his room._ Aokiji thought. After checking to make sure everything was accounted for, he handed a small bag of coins to the captain in compensation for the damages to the ship and walked back aboard the battleship that was anchored nearby. He checked with the officer in charge to make sure all the pirates were rounded up accordingly. After making sure they were on track he decided to check on Luffy.

He strode downwards and found the door. He pushed it open quietly and stooped to enter. A small yelp came from within making him pause. He let his mind feel outwards and noted the presence of a minuscule spirit inside, much too small to be his young ward.

"Who's there? Luffy?" He asked after a second and continued into the room. He flicked the light switch on and looked around. Sitting on the unkempt bed was a tiny runt of a boy with weird pink hair. He was sweating profusely as he looked up at the tall man with fear.

"Who are you?" Aokiji asked after a moment, scratching his head in confusion.

"Ah! I'm uh.. Coby! Hi! I wanted to be a marine and so Luffy said to come to this room and wait and he said someone would find him and said to say hi and that he's gonna be a pirate now and so..." he finished and chuckled weakly.

Aokiji simply scratched his head again.

"Huh..."

 _Garp is gonna kill me._

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

Nami sighed in content. It had been a good day so far. The pirates had been weak and hadn't bothered her as she pillaged the ship. She had a good haul. Probably good for 2 or 3 million berries, she judged thoughtfully as she hefted the small bag.

She checked her compass and then leaned against a barrel thoughtfully. Next she figured she would head to the marine base she had heard about. Apparently there was a map of value there, or so she had heard. Suddenly a low growl made her stop short and hold her breath. It had come from directly behind her from within the barrel.

She clutched her staff to her chest defensively and scrambled backwards and watched the barrel carefully. Several seconds passed in silence. As soon as she began to doubt her hearing she heard it again. Gulping, she steadied her nerves. She approached carefully and pulled at the lid. Finally she managed to pry it free, but fell back with the force.

A loud sigh escaped from the barrel and she froze. Suddenly a lanky boy stretched from within and exclaimed loudly.

"I slept so well!" he shouted and raised his fists to the sky. Nami cried out.

"What the?! Who are you?!" she shrieked. Luffy looked at her in confusion.

"Who are you?" he asked simply. Nami swung her staff down sharply smacking him in the head, a large lump forming beneath it.

"I'm asking you that you idiot!" she shouted savagely.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" he grinned.

* * *

 **Next time: Shells Town**

 **I know this chapter seems kind of rushed. In a way it was. Not because I was pressed for time, but because I was really eager to get going with the story. Maybe later on I will go back and polish it up, but for now let me know what you guys think.**

 **Hope you enjoyed! See you next time!**


	4. Chapter 4: Shells Town

**Chapter 4: Shells Town  
**

* * *

 **The Coast of Goa**

Aokiji stood silently on the deck of his ship, watching countless small boats fleeing in all directions. He sighed out loud before turning to the marine next to him.

"Well… I don't think we can chase them all…"

It had been exactly how he pictured when he left Marineford. The Revolutionaries had smelled the marines a mile off and fled. Now it would be up to him to try and chase down stragglers. He groaned inwardly. _This is such a pain…_

"Sir!"

Aokiji eyed the pink haired boy trembling on the other side of him, attempting to get his attention. He still didn't know what to make of the situation. From what he could gather, Luffy had decided to become a pirate. Whether he had been planning this ever since they left Marineford, Aokiji didn't know. Something told him that wasn't really something Luffy would do, but he couldn't be sure.

Either way, the boy had run off and left behind… Well, the pink haired boy's name escaped him. Not that it really mattered.

After learning of Luffy's disappearance, Aokiji had decided to continue pursuing the revolutionaries first. He had given it a bit of thought, and in the end he believed that Luffy would most likely come back within a few days, or perhaps show up on some marine base somewhere. He didn't even have a ship, much less a crew.

He would definitely be back.

Aokiji looked back at the ships. After a few more seconds he sighed and picked a ship at random.

"Follow that one." he pointed. The marine attendant gave his affirmation and began to shout orders.

Coby cowered under Aokiji's lazy scrutiny. He was well aware of who the man was. Even though he had spent the last few years on board Alvida's ship, the legend of the Ice Admiral, Aokiji, was prevalent across the seas. Coby was sure that the lazy face he was putting on was merely a mask, hiding a very serious and heroic person.

Aokiji looked away again, back to the horizon and the ships that fled. Coby felt a bit deflated after being ignored, but he supposed it made sense after what happened. Silently he reflected on all that had happened to him.

After he had been found in Luffy's room, Coby had done his best to explain what had happened. To Coby however, the admiral's presence was stifling, which made it very difficult to relay the events aboard the cruise ship. It had taken him nearly twenty minutes of stammering before Aokiji had given up on getting any more information out of him.

He had left after that, saying something about talking later once the boy had calmed down. And so Coby spent the night nervously inside Luffy's old room. It was relatively unused. The closet was filled neatly with rows of marine uniforms that seemed unworn, and the rest of the room was spotless and empty. The picture frame on the nightstand was empty as well.

In the morning, a low rank marine had fetched him and brought him to the deck where he met again with the admiral. There he had been told about how they were chasing some revolutionaries. Coby also managed to go over the events of the previous day as well as his wish to become a marine.

Unfortunately for him, once he had finished talking about his encounter with Luffy, it seemed as if the admiral had finished listening to him. So he never did really get his message across.

For the past few hours he had attempted to regain the admirals attention, but between the revolutionaries fleeing, and the many duties that came with being the highest rank aboard the ship, Aokiji seemed simply too busy to deal with him.

The ship was hectic and it seemed that the only place he could safely stand, without somehow being in someone's way, was next to the admiral himself. Inwardly, he was constantly in a state of panic and anxiety. This wasn't really what he pictured when he first decided to become a marine.

But in the end, a picture of Luffy's smiling face and the determination in his words, would always come back to him. So Coby would clench his jaw, ball his fists, and try again. This was his dream, after all.

* * *

 **Somewhere in the East Blue**

"I'm hungry…" Luffy whined.

Nami's eyebrow twitched in response. It had been doing that for the past few hours, and Nami was worried that unless she made landfall soon, it would become a habit. Ever since she had discovered the boy from the barrel, there had been a never ending stream of constant annoyances. The boy was an incessant stream of bubbly enthusiasm, the likes of which Nami had never seen in her life. He was _constantly_ doing something. Be it rocking the small boat, tapping his fingers, stretching his fingers in… unnatural ways, making noises with his mouth, rummaging through the light storage they had, eating anything he found, and… Well too many things to list, really.

This particular annoyance was a bit too much for her though.

"That's because…" Nami had a deadly tone on her quiet voice "You ate EVERYTHING!"

She suddenly exploded in a fury. This was only fanned higher when Luffy seemingly ignored her wrath with a bored look on his face and a finger in his ear.

This boy was unbelievable.

Where the hell had he come from anyway? Why was he inside that barrel? So many questions, both the obvious, as well as many unformulated snippets, floated around in Nami's brain. Suddenly she felt rather nauseous, and it wasn't because of the sea.

"Could you at least _listen_ when I talk to you?!" Nami huffed indigently. She decided to go back to her navigational devices before she went insane. After cross checking her compass with her sea charts, she nodded with satisfaction. Only a few more hours.

Quietly, she snuck a glance at her unwanted passenger. He was busy picking his nose absently to even notice her gaze. He had said his name was Luffy. Nami looked him over appraisingly. She was usually good at reading people, her line of work required it, but Luffy was incredibly hard to read. His body language was completely relaxed, and he had a youthful and excited face. His body was slim and childlike almost, but at the same time was extremely toned. He looked strong. Not just physically either. He had a quiet aura of strength that Nami had never seen before. It was almost as if he wore his soul on the outside, baring it to anyone who wanted to look.

Nami shook her head and looked away. She didn't know how long she had been looking at him. Risking another glance, it seemed as if she had been unnoticed. She turned back to the horizon and thought back to the strongest people she knew.

Shuddering, she recalled their figures. They certainly were strong, monstrously so. Definitely stronger than the boy in her boat, she thought with certainty. Many of their feats of strength flashed through her mind, sending shivers through her spine. Sweat began to bead at her nape and her breathing quickened. Vaguely she realized she was beginning to have another panic attack, but the thoughts were swept away with the torrent of violent memories that crashed through her.

A sudden and tremendous crash brought her abruptly to the surface of her mind. She was up on her feet before she even realized what she was doing, staff in hand.

At the other end of the boat Luffy was crouched low, hanging over the side of the boat with an arm stuck in the water. His fingers gripped tightly to the rim, he was struggling against something. His face gave away no panic, instead a huge grin was spread wide.

"What the hell are you doing!" Nami yelled.

Another huge thunderclap sounded out, and suddenly the boat was surging sideways. Nami stumbled with the lack of room and sat down abruptly. WIth both arms she clutched at the side of the boat with fear. Below her, the water was swelling upwards and there seemed to be a massive shadow below. Across from her, Luffy pulled with all his might, his whole body straining upwards.

The source of the noise was suddenly clear as the water exploded upwards, sending a geyser of water spraying several feet into the air. From where Luffy was pulling, a massive fish had flown out of the water, and then back down an instant later, followed by a second crash of the waves which sent the boat careening.

Luffy laughed happily, even as he struggled against the beast. Nami held on for dear life, barely understanding what was happening. Luffy seemed to lose his tension abruptly, his arm snapping back into place. The boat tipped dangerously with the force, but settled back into place. The waves were calm again, the wake losing force as it spread in all directions.

Luffy laughed loudly, sea foam dripping steadily off his vest, his hands shoved upwards and into the sky.

"What the hell was that?!" Nami yelled, the fear still in her voice. Sitting up, she scanned the horizon quickly, but seeing nothing was left more confused than before. She had only gotten a few glimpses of what happened, the rest of the time her eyes had been shut tightly as the boat was batted around like a toy car.

"Luffy, did you see what happened?" She turned to the laughing boy.

"Huh?" Luffy turned to her, his huge grin still flashing across his face. "Nami, did you see that? There was a huuuuge fish! I tried to catch it but it was strong and almost pulled me away!"

Luffy began babbling excitedly, and Nami couldn't keep up. Eventually she gave up on him and began checking to see how far off course they had been thrown. From what she could gather there must have been a large sea animal, probably like mohmoo who had breached close to them. Sighing, she reset the course and looked back at Luffy.

He was sitting cross-legged as close as he could to the front of the boat, watching the waves. Again she was found wondering where this mysterious boy had come from. The last few times she had asked, Luffy was distracted by something, be it food, or the waves, or something else. He seemed rather relaxed now. His clothes were slowly drying under the sun, and he seemed content with basking in it.

Finally she ventured another go,

"Luffy why did you get on this boat?" She asked simply, thinking it might be better to ask easy questions first. He seemed like a rather straightforward person.

Luffy turned and looked at her, a strange expression in his face. Nami was taken aback. It didn't seem like a weird question to her, but now he was looking at her like _she_ was the simple one. After a few seconds, Luffy answered.

"I can't swim."

"That's not what I meant!" Nami was suddenly shouting again. With a huff, she gathered herself and reconsidered her question. She wasn't usually one so easy to snap. It almost bothered her, actually, how easy it was for this new person to get under her skin. After a few seconds she tried again.

"Were you on the cruise ship that was attacked by pirates?" She fished for something that would give her answers.

"Yes." Luffy responded simply, his finger in his ear again. Nami ground her teeth. Well, it was progress anyway. She could work with it.

"Were you one of the passengers?" she questioned the carefree boy.

"Nah, I came with the marines." Luffy responded with an actual answer for once.

Nami ceased her questions momentarily in favor of reformulating her opinion of him. _A marine huh._ Well he certainly didn't look like one. But maybe that's where his strength came from. She looked notedly at where Luffy had been gripping the side of the boat before. There were several large fingermarks pressed into the wood. It was clear she had been right about at least some of his strength.

Though not many of the marines she had encountered had been all that strong. Her mood suddenly soured, remembering all the times she had wished for help from the marines. Help that had either never came, or was all in all, unhelpful. Briefly she wondered if Luffy knew anything about her captors. Maybe the marine organization was just so big that most of them were unaware of the problems in her side of the world.

Startled by the lack of noise or other form of annoyance, Nami looked towards where Luffy sat. He was suddenly quiet, almost as if he were meditating. She couldn't see his face from there, he was facing forwards and out at the ocean. Briefly she wondered if he was sleeping, but threw the thought out immediately. It was clear that he was still awake.

But he was acting so much differently than before. His playful and erratic behaviour was completely gone, and in its place was a quiet and somber atmosphere. It seemed out of place on his features, but Nami couldn't bring herself to restart the conversation.

Several hours passed. Luffy continued to sit face forwards, in whatever quiet contemplation he was immersed in, and Nami made herself busy with the maps and other various navigational tools.

A noise coming from her passenger made Nami look up from the map she had been immersed in. It wasn't often that she was able to make maps for herself, and even less where she didn't feel nauseous doing so, at least while her village was still the way that it was. Her dreams could wait, or at least that's how she usually felt. But today those thoughts were gone for once and so she had embraced the change.

After making sure her ink was properly stored she looked up at the horizon. Sure enough, their destination was cropping up, and was seemingly the reason Luffy had broken his reverie.

"Say Nami, are there any strong guys there?" Luffy asked, turning towards her.

"Uhm, I think that's where they are keeping Zoro, the pirate hunter, actually. He is famous swordsman. Also apparently the marine captain that is there is pretty famous for catching a really dangerous pirate." Nami spoke as she stored her things. She was anxious to land and separate from the boy. Not that she hated him or anything. He was just too… different from what she usually expected from people. Even if the constant annoyances weren't enough, the drastic change in demeanor had thrown her off completely.

"Huh, I don't really feel anyone strong from there though." Luffy mumbled dejectedly. Nami didn't really know what to make from that, so she decided to just pile it with the rest of the weird things the boy had said throughout their day long trip.

They were nearing the docks.

"Why do you want to know anyway?" Nami asked. With all her personal belongings together, she didn't really care what happened to the boat from here on out. Her eyes wandered with a practice ease over the boats already docked at the harbor. Any one of them could become her new boat had she needed.

Come to think of it, she never did ask why a marine had fled the cruise ship instead of returning with the rest.

"Well if they are strong then I wanted to ask them to join in my new pirate crew." Luffy responded simply. He stood and stretched, arcing his back. With a little hop he jumped to the pier they had saddled up against. With a grin he turned back towards Nami.

"You can join too if you want."

Nami's blood had run cold. It had actually made her seize up. The boat knocked gently against the concrete wall that the water was lapping up against, but she made no attempt to tie it to the dock, or even jump out. Slowly, she tried to parse the words Luffy had just spoken, but found that they didn't fit him at all.

"Pirate?" She asked dumbly.

Luffy laughed, throwing his hands into the air in a cheer.

"Yeah, I'm gonna become the King of Pirates!" he shouted, his voice full of conviction and excitement.

* * *

Luffy watched the receding back of the girl he had been traveling with ever since he had taken out Alvida and decided to begin his pirate journey. It seemed like she had gotten mad at him, but he didn't really know why. He smiled as he remembered the trip he had taken here with her. He liked her, she was nice and knew how to navigate a boat much better than he did. He would definitely get her to join his pirate crew.

Then, Luffy frowned. It did seem like he made her mad though. After he had told her he was going to be the King of Pirates, they had a short conversation he didn't really remember and she had run off.

Luffy shrugged. He would find her later. For now he closed his eyes and felt outwards, hoping to find someone strong. Most of them felt more or less the same so he couldn't really tell. Nobody had a big presence like his grandpa or Kuzan, so he was disappointed.

He opened his eyes again and began walking. Maybe he would find that Zoro guy that Nami was talking about. She said he was strong.

The streets were narrow and crowded. It was early evening and people were out and about, doing shopping and other things. Signs were pasted everywhere about some guy named Morgan and how he was the leader. Luffy didn't really pay any attention to those.

Soon he was reminded by his growling stomach that the last time he had eaten was several hours before, when he was still on the boat with Nami. He peered into several restaurants but kept walking, lamenting his lack of money. He considered dine and dashing like he had with Ace and Sabo all those years ago.

The memory of Sabo and Ace subdued him somewhat. He walked quietly with no particular direction in mind, thoughts of his brothers filling his mind.

Luffy had never really gotten over his brother's deaths. He had witnessed Sabo being shot down by the Celestial Dragon, and had lost Ace in the subsequent firestorm the island was caught in. Sometimes he would just think about them. For hours even. But he couldn't let himself get distracted now.

Luffy shook his head and looked around. He had walked some distance and now found himself standing outside the gates of a marine base. He remembered Nami had said that the marines had captured Zoro, so maybe he should look around. Then, his stomach rumbled again. Suddenly weak, Luffy clutched at his stomach.

"So… hungry…" he whined.

He looked around but found nothing that seemed like it would aid him in his search for food. Then, a sound behind him made him turn. Behind him, an orange haired girl with a pained expression on her face had been attempting to turn around and leave before Luffy had noticed her. Luffy blinked. It was Nami. A grin spread across his face and he trotted over to her, not noticing her grimace.

"Heya Nami!"

* * *

Nami trudged along the path, barely paying attention to where she was going. Several minutes ago she had parted with Luffy at the docks. She was vaguely aware that she needed to head to the marine base, but other than that, her mind was elsewhere. Back to that strange boy. The marine turned pirate or whatever.

It still made her blood freeze. Nami vehemently _hated_ pirates. Every pirate she had ever come across was dangerous, greedy, violent or some combination of those. Many were just plain… evil. None worse than the pirates she knew the most intimately. She bit her lip at the thought of them. It was almost time to return. But she just needed one last push. The goal posts were in sight.

She pushed all thoughts of the strange boy, as well as all pictures of pirates from her mind. She was almost to her goal that she had been working towards for who knows how long. And this was one of the steps towards the final step. She needed a map of the Grand Line.

Finally she rounded the bend to what she knew was where the marine base would be. She put on a determined face and looked up at the establishment, steeling herself for what she would do. She had never broken her rule before.

She only stole from pirates.

But not today. She was so close. She had thought about it, long and hard, ever since she first heard about the supposed map. In the end her desire for her nightmare to end won out against her self rule. Besides, the Navy had never helped her, or her village before. The most they ever did was slap a bounty on that monster's head and call it a day.

All this rushed through her head again, as it had for the past few days she had been on her way towards shells town.

The pirate ship she had raided yesterday was a lucky side tour. In fact when it had first appeared she was hopeful that it might contain the last amount she needed for her goal. It had been a fools dream. Of course small time pirates from the East Blue didn't have nearly 10 million beri on them. But that didn't stop her from hoping.

No, she needed this map. There was no way she could live through another year of this. That's how long she had calculated it would take at her current rate. The picture of a certain room appeared in her mind, and she bit her lip again, hard enough to draw blood.

Finally she shook her head of these thoughts and brought her mind back to the present. She was here already. Time to go. She patted herself on her cheeks and began to stride forth.

But there.

Right there in front of her, at the gates of the marine base. _How the hell had he gotten in front of her?_ Nami quickly turned to escape before Luffy would notice her. He was the last person she wanted to see at the moment. Her mind flashed back to the brief conversation they had before she had stormed off.

No, she would come back later. He would leave eventually. Probably. Honestly she couldn't tell with him. He did sit completely still on the boat for like... 3 hours.

"Heya Nami!"

 _Shit._

Nami turned to face the exuberant boy with a pained expression.

"Oh… Luffy, looks like we meet again." she attempted to fake a greeting. Luffy didn't seem to notice her inner turmoil.

 _King of Pirates._ Luffy looked nothing like the part.

"Nami, I'm hungry, do you have any money?" Luffy whined.

Didn't sound the part either.

Nami ignored him and seized up the building. Even from where they stood she could see 5 guards. That was without even opening the gate. This was going to be difficult. She bit her thumb absently as she thought, her brows furrowed. At the edge of her mind, Luffy nagged incessantly. He was talking about food or something. Honestly, why did he have to show up here. Hell, why did he have to show up at all in that barrel.

"Also I couldn't find Zoro anywhere, are you sure there are strong people here?" Luffy continued.

That caught Nami's attention. That's right, Luffy was looking for crew members or something. If he really would try and break Zoro out, it might make a suitable distraction for her to go to work. Though looking at Luffy, he didn't look like someone who could threaten an entire marine base. But that aura of his…

Nami shook her head. She thought too much.

"Hold on, I'm sure he's around if we look. Do you want me to help?" she asked sweetly. She would wing it.

"Sure! Ah, but I'm hungry though." Luffy responded.

Ignoring the second part, Nami began walking the perimeter of the wall immediately. There would probably be a courtyard or something. Luffy followed her easily. He seemed rather excited, but he didn't say anything.

Finally Nami found what she was looking for. Off to the side of the building, the wall continued. Nami deftly boosted herself to the top in order to peer over. The wall created a square courtyard to be used for training. but at the moment there were several stocks set up to house prisoners. Only one was occupied at the moment however.

Right in the center, a tall but muscular man was roped to the wooden post. He was tied tightly, but still seemed to be sagging through it, limp.

Next to her Luffy jumped up easily, where he crouched low on the wall like a monkey.

"Huh? Is that Zoro?"

Nami gulped and nodded silently. Even from here, and in the weakened state the man was in, she could tell that it had to be him. The famous pirate hunter. His whole body was taut and corded with muscle, and wrapped around his waist was the identifying green sash. Tied over his head tightly was a black bandana. It cast shadows over his face, obscuring his eyes from view.

But even with all that, he had clearly been out there for days. His entire body sagged against the rope and dirt was encrusted into every crevice of his clothing. He was bloodied and bruised, and his face was swelled purple. His shirt was torn and lash marks left red pools across his chest. His breathing was slow, but surprisingly even. He was probably sleeping.

Abruptly his head rose. His eyes went searching towards the duo. Nami jumped involuntarily as his eyes wandered over hers and towards Luffy. He was definitely a beast, just like the rumours said. All of a sudden she wanted to convince Luffy to not go near him, to keep him roped up there forever.

His eyes seemed to stop and lock on with Luffy's. The younger boy looked back with an almost bored look on his face. Nami was horrified. She didn't trust herself to speak. Contrary to the young and innocent look that Luffy gave off, Zoro seemed like a rabid animal. His wounds only accentuated this, making him look bloodthirsty and cornered.

Nami felt like she would choke on the pressure.

"He looks hungry." Luffy said simply.

Suddenly it passed and Nami was looking at a very tired and hungry man tied up to a wooden stake. He didn't look dangerous at all from where she was. But her heart was still pounding as proof.

She sighed and grasped at her chest to still her heart.

"Of course he is, he's probably been there for days."

"That's not what I meant." Luffy responded.

A noise drew they attention to the left. A young girl, no more than eight, was clumsily placing a ladder next to them. She then climbed it slowly with one hand, the other firmly clasping something near her waist. With a little huff she pulled herself on top of the wall and turned towards the pair.

With a serious expression she used her one free hand to shush them dramatically several times, before dropping into the courtyard below. Nami's brain didn't register what had happened for about a second, but by then it was too late. She grasped at empty air as the young girl ran towards the restrained man in the courtyard.

"Come back!" she shouted suddenly.

A dry wind flung her voice back at her, along with a flurry of dust.

"Luffy! Go get her before she gets hurt!" she commanded suddenly to the boy she hardly knew. Luffy didn't respond and made no move to follow her instructions. So Nami clenched her jaw and looked back towards the courtyard, not sure what to do.

The little girl had stopped about a foot in front of Zoro. Both her hands were in front of her, clasping something precious to her chest. She seemed to say something quietly to the prisoner.

"Get lost! Do you want to die?!" a hoarse voice sprang out. Nami winced. It sounded as if someone had torn their vocal chords and was blowing air through it. It sounded incredibly harsh and almost violent.

"I made them for you!"

"I don't want them, now get lost!" Zoro shouted, his voice cracking.

The little girl seemed almost as if she was unsure how to proceed. On the wall, Nami had no clue either. How cruel to shout at a young girl like that. Beside her, Luffy's face gave away nothing of what he may be thinking.

"Now, now Zoro. You shouldn't pick on little kids like that." A shrill and mocking voice came from the gate to the courtyard. A lanky man with a strange hairstyle came striding in with a shit eating grin on his face. He wore a cheap looking black suit with pink accents, and several gaudy looking pieces of jewelry. He laughed, a strange shrill cry, almost like a dying songbird.

"Some weirdo came." Luffy said, pointing at the newcomer.

Nami let go a sigh of relief. Flanking the weird kid with the onion styled hair were two marines. The little girl would be safe now.

Zoro gave a deathly glare to the newcomers.

"Well if it isn't the captain's bastard son…" Zoro intoned mockingly. His gravelly voice carried across the courtyard. The black suited boy's ugly grin turned into a scowl. He spat into the dust beside him.

"Bastard? Don't get cocky, you're still my prisoner!"

The blonde haired boy motioned abruptly to the marine beside him.

"Give me the whip." he ordered.

"Yes! Helmeppo sir!" the marine stiffened hastily before handing over a black whip to the boy. It was a sickly looking thing, several nails were tied into it between large rough knots in the leather. It looked well used.

Zoro only grimaced as Helmeppo approached. If he was afraid, he didn't show it. When Helmeppo didn't get the reaction he wanted, his scowl darkened. He spat into the restrained man's face.

"You should give respect to your superiors. My dad could execute you, maybe you should beg more."

Zoro looked up at his captive with a feral grin on his face. His eyes glinted dangerously. He said nothing, but the challenge was clear. Helmeppo's face squished in a rage. He stepped back and threw his entire body into the lashing he gave the prisoner.

His technique was awful. To all onlookers it was very clear that this man had hardly ever done anything physical in his life, but the nails tore through his victims body easily and the knots left large welts on his skin. Zoro made no noise under the onslaught, only lowering his face in order to protect himself as much as possible.

Off to the side Nami covered her mouth in horror. She had seen a lot in her life, and torture wasn't something she was unfamiliar with. But her disgust didn't quell just because she had seen similar scenes before. The bile in her throat rose. Unable to continue watching she glanced at her companion, but Luffy's face was still completely blank. The lack of response disgusted her more. She turned to hop off the wall.

"I can't watch this."

Luffy grasped at her wrist, preventing her from leaving.

"You should watch. It would be rude to ignore a man's resolve."

She stopped and looked back at Luffy in surprise. Even in the short time she knew him, that seemed like such an unlikely thing to come out of his mouth. Even still she turned back towards the scene. Helmeppo was finishing up. His actions were catching up to him, so he leaned down and drew in several shaky breaths. He definitely wasn't used to the physical strain.

Zoro looked up again, his own body looking awful from the abuse. Fresh wounds had caused his ruined shirt to pool with blood.

"Are you done?" he asked, deadly serious.

This sent Helmeppo back into a rage and he raised his whip to continue his assault. A small hand on his shirt abruptly stopped him. Behind him the two marines looked on uncomfortably at the small girl who had gone ignored until now.

She had tears in her eyes. "Stop! Stop hurting him!" she cried, suddenly breaking into sobs. She had turned slightly, letting the contents of her other hand be seen. She held several poorly made rice balls, cupped gently but firmly against herself. Helmeppo looked down in shock.

"Huh? What are you still doing here?" he asked finally, the anger leaving his body.

The girl sniffled and looked up at him with a glare. Helmeppo shirked away from her gaze. His eyes fell to the rice balls. His nasty grin returned. He hastily shot out and grabbed one from her hands, ignoring her protest.

"What do you have here? These look pretty good." he laughed, before taking a big bite. He immediately wretched, and threw the offending rice ball into the dirt.

"What the hell thats nasty! Why did you put sugar in it?! You're supposed to put salt! Salt!" he stomped on the rice, covering it with dust and grime. Beside him the girl cried in protest.

"I thought they would taste better if they were sweet!"

Helmeppo sneered at the girl and yanked the remaining rice ball out of her hands, before throwing it into the dirt as well. By the time he had finished grinding the rice into the dust, the girl beside him was bawling.

"Ah don't cry. This is why I hate kids…" he ran his hands through his hair, but altogether looked like he didn't really care that much. He leaned down next to her and roughly pulled her up by her shirt.

"This is all your fault you know? Can't you read this sign?" He pointed at a sign by the entrance to the square.

"See it says anyone who helps a prisoner will be charged with the same crime."

Then he pointed at the name printed at the bottom, shoving his finger at the wood for emphasis.

"Captain Morgan. You do know how scary my dad is right?" Helmeppo sneered at the girl. "You would have gotten the death penalty if you were grown up!"

The marine captain's son turned to his guards who had watched on with discomfort the entire time. They snapped to attention hastily under his gaze.

"Oi, throw this brat out." Helmeppo waved at one of them.

The marine hesitated briefly, but this didn't go unnoticed. Helmeppo stormed up to him and grasped at his uniform, his eyebrows raised with exaggeration.

"Huh? You aren't disobeying are you? I'm telling you to throw her out of here! I'll tell my dad!" Helmeppo sent spittle flying into the marine's face, his shit eating grin never leaving his face.

The marine hurried over to the kid. He looked like he whispered something to the little girl, but then he picked her up and launched her over the wall, towards where Luffy and Nami were looking on.

Beside Nami, Luffy sprang into action, leaping from the wall and into the air. He caught the little girl and landed easily next to the wall. Nami looked down in surprise. It wasn't something she expected Luffy to do. But come to think of it, that seemed to be happening over and over. She bit her lip. Nothing about him made any sense.

Back in the courtyard, Helmeppo seemed to have finished with his fun and turned to leave. The guards followed him stiffly.

"Oi! You better keep your promise!" Zoro shouted at the retreating figures hoarsely.

Helmeppo's shrill laugh returned. "Hahaha if you can live like this for a whole month, I'll keep my word and release you!"

Soon they were gone, and Zoro slumped back over again. If his fresh wounds were bothering him, he certainly didn't show it. Then, before she realized anything had happened, Luffy was standing in the courtyard in front of Zoro. She gasped as she had been about to jump down to leave. She scrambled to get a good view.

Suddenly her mind was racing. Wasn't this what she had wanted to happen? If Luffy sets him free then there would be a big commotion and she might be able to sneak in. Nami watched on nervously.

"You're still here?" Zoro croaked out, raising his head again to meet Luffy's eyes. "You should leave before that idiot son tells his dad about it."

Luffy ignored him for a moment, his eyes holding Zoro's gaze easily.

"I'm looking for someone to join my pirate crew."

Zoro attempted to spit but his mouth seemed too dry. "Pirate? Hah so you just gave up on life to become some lame crook huh?"

Luffy frowned "It's my dream! There is nothing wrong with being a pirate!"

"So what? You're gonna set me free and force me to join you?" Zoro mocked him.

"Nah I haven't made up my mind yet. Everyone says you're a bad guy." Luffy smiled good naturedly under Zoro's feral grin. Nami noticed that she had been shaking. What was wrong with her? What was wrong with those two? They seemed like monsters.

"A bad guy huh?" Zoro laughed, his entire body rumbling. His shirt stains grew with the movement.

"I'll never join you because I have something I need to do! I don't need your help! If I can survive one month I'll be set free, that stupid marine captain's son promised! I'm gonna do everything I can to stay alive and fulfill my dreams!" Zoro was shouting now, probably more to himself than to Luffy.

Luffy grinned. "Really? If I were you I think I'd starve in a week!"

Zoro sneered in response. "That's why we're different. Go find someone else to join your little crew."

Luffy only smiled again in response and turned to leave.

"Wait!"

Zoro's shout made him turn. If anything, Luffy looked a little disappointed at the sudden change.

"What?" Luffy asked simply.

"That…" Zoro nodded at the ground, towards the ruined rice balls. "Think you can pick that up for me."

Luffy crouched down in the dust and gathered the dusty food.

"This? You want to eat it? But it's all muddy."

"Shut up and just give it to me!" Zoro shouted again, his vocal chords straining in protest.

Luffy silently walked over and threw it in his mouth. Zoro sputtered and struggled to keep it down with the dust. Slowly he swallowed, not letting a single grain escape.

Luffy looked on with interest.

"What do you want to kill yourself or something?"

Zoro ignored his remark and coughed several times to clear his throat.

"You go tell that little girl!" he coughed again, "The rice balls were very good, thank you very much."

Luffy's grin returned in a flash.

"You got it." Luffy laughed, before turning and trotting over to the wall where Nami was watching, dumbstruck. He hopped up easily and poked at the stricken redhead.

"Oi, Nami, I'm hungry. Lets go get food."

Nami shook her head. Her stomach was in as much of a swirl as her brain. She had frozen up at the exchange. What the hell was with these guys! None of it made any sense. She turned to the lanky boy next to her.

"What? Aren't you going to free Zoro and make him join your crew or whatever?" She echoed Zoro.

"Nah. I'm hungry right now." Luffy said before beginning to stroll off towards the town. Then he seemed to remember something and turned back towards her. "Ah, but I need to borrow your money."

Nami didn't know what to do other than follow him. It seemed the longer she stuck around with him, the more she didn't know what to think. He was like no other person she had ever met. And the whole deal with being a pirate made absolutely no sense to her. She shook her head once more, something she had been doing a lot today. No matter what she thought of him, which really wasn't clear at the moment, she still needed him to cause that distraction.

* * *

The two made their way to a restaurant, one that Luffy seemed to choose solely by the smell that was wafting out of it. But as luck would have it, the little girl from before was seated at the bar of the restaurant Luffy had chosen. He grinned and plodded over towards her. Behind him, Nami followed, deep in thought.

"Heya!" Luffy greeted, sliding in next to the little girl.

"Ah! You're the guy from the courtyard!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Rika! What were you doing there again?" The woman behind the counter, most likely the girls mother, questioned with a stern voice.

"Ah, I was giving Zoro the rice balls I made." Rika said sheepishly. Nami sat next to Luffy quietly.

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed his signature laugh. "He said they were very good and to thank you for them"

Rika's eyes widened. "Really?!" she shouted in disbelief. Beside her Luffy laughed again.

"Yeah, he ate all of it, even though it was covered in dust."

Rika smiled wide, "I'm so happy!" Behind the counter, her mother gave a wry smile.

"Do you want something to eat you two?" she asked Nami and Luffy.

Luffy grinned. "Meat!" he shouted, but then suddenly remembering, "Ah but I don't have any money." he wilted.

The woman smiled softly, "Don't worry about it, I'll let you eat since you helped out my daughter."

Luffy was all smiles once again.

"Did you want something two, Miss?" she asked Nami. The orange haired girl looked up.

"Ah no thank you, I'm fine." she responded mutedly.

For the next few minutes Luffy chatted away with Rika while her mother cooked. Soon enough a plate with plentiful amounts of meat was put down in front of Luffy. His mouth watered, and after giving a quick thanks he began eating ravenously. Beside him, Nami and Rika looked on in amazement. His ability to eat was unnatural. His entire body seemingly stretched to accommodate whatever he shoved into his mouth. Frankly, it was unnerving.

"Ah, I suppose you'll be wanting more…" the woman behind the counter said, hastily preparing to continue cooking.

"Rika, why were you trying to help out Zoro anyway? Isn't he a dangerous guy?" Nami asked, unable to tear her eyes away from Luffy's spectacle of a meal.

"No, he isn't bad! He didn't do anything wrong. It's just people are scared of him. He got arrested because of me." Rika looked down and wrung her hands. "He killed Helmeppo's pet wolf because it was going around scaring and biting people…"

Luffy looked up from his clean plate. There was a brief pause before more food was set down in front of him, so he decided to join in the conversation.

"Huh, so you're saying he only got arrested for killing that weirdo's bad wolf?" he asked.

"Yeah, the only bad guys here are the Morgans! They execute anyone who disobeys them!" Rika shouted, unable to to keep her voice down.

At the other end of the restaurant the doors barged open. All eyes were drawn to the commotion.

"Hehehe. We're back to be fed for free!" he looked around the restaurant with a sweeping eye. He zeroed in on someone who was quietly glaring at him. With a swagger he approached the table.

"Huh? Do you have something to say?" he sneered. "Do you want to end up like Roronoa Zoro? I'm gonna publicly execute him in three days! He'll be a good example for you guys."

"Three days?" Luffy questioned, suddenly standing. Nami attempted to pull him back down but he shrugged her off and walked up to the captain's son.

"Didn't you say you will free him if he survives a full month?" Luffy asked quietly. Nami gulped. His body language gave nothing away, but she somehow could tell Luffy wasn't messing around.

"Huh? Who the hell are you. How rude…" Helmeppo turned, his shit eating grin spreading again. "I was only joking with him, only an idiot would believe that!" He began wheezing with laughter.

A huge crash followed, wood splintering and being sent everywhere. Plates were smashed loudly against the ground. Luffy had punched Helmeppo hard, straight through the restaurant wall. The patrons of the restaurant were completely silent, fear in their eyes.

Luffy stepped through the rubble, anger smoldering in his dark eyes. Behind him Nami rushed forward. She moved to try and restrain him but stopped herself at the last second. Wasn't this the opening she needed?

"You're no marine!" Luffy shouted, dragging Helmeppo up by his shirt. The blonde's two guards were still recovering from the crash, attempting to pull themselves up.

With a heft, Luffy threw Helmeppo with a huge amount of force, sending him flying off towards the marine base. Suddenly Luffy visibly calmed down.

"It was meaningless to hit him. I still haven't learned much." he chuckled before turning towards Rika's mother who was looking out through the hole in her wall.

"I'm very sorry about your wall." Luffy bowed in apology. "Well I'm gonna go get Zoro now." He waved.

He turned and trotted off, leaving Nami behind.

Nami surveyed the destruction with wide eyes. She hadn't even seen him swing, yet the building was in shambles now. Just how much strength was that boy hiding? Realizing she was being left behind she took off to follow.

She was a few minutes behind Luffy. When she had arrived at the marine base there were about a dozen guards all laying knocked out around the base. Luffy was nowhere to be seen. After seeing how Helmeppo acted, she didn't know whether to be disgusted with Luffy's actions here or not.

She quickly put the thoughts aside and approached the doors. She would need to be fast. She didn't know how long it would be before Luffy was eventually apprehended. She smiled, suddenly in her element. It didn't matter, she had the opening she needed. She would be long gone by the time they caught him.

* * *

"Why are you back? I already told you I won't join you." Zoro asked, his eyes drilling into the straw hat wearing boy.

"I'm Luffy. I'm gonna loosen your ropes and you will join my crew okay?" Luffy grinned.

"I've told you clearly that I won't join!" he cleared his throat again and looked down, a fierce expression on his face. "I have things I need to do! Besides I'm not going to be a bad guy like a pirate."

Luffy frowned, "Why do you care? Everyone already thinks you're a bad guy."

Zoro snapped "I don't care what they say about me! I haven't done one thing that I have regretted in the past and it will be the same for the future! I won't become a pirate no matter what!" his conviction bled from his lips.

Luffy seemed to consider this for a moment before turning abruptly. "I don't care! You're gonna join me!" he said simply.

"Don't decide for yourself!" Zoro shouted angrily at him, but Luffy ignored his protests.

"You use swords right?" Luffy questioned.

Zoro seemed to consider what he was after, but eventually answered. "Yeah, I fight using swords."

"Where is your sword?" Luffy asked.

"That bastard kid took it. That sword is something I treasure the most!" Zoro shouted, his anger apparent.

Luffy seemed to get it, "Ohh, treasure huh. It must be something special." He grinned. "Okay I'm gonna go find your sword and get it back." His cheeky grin spread. "But if you want me to get it back, you'll have to join my pirate crew."

Zoro sputtered. "That's dirty!" he shouted at the lanky boy. But he wasn't listening. Luffy was already running off.

Zoro sweatdropped. Was he planning on taking on the entire marine base by himself? Not to mention…

"Hey it's the other way you idiot!" Zoro shouted savagely. Luffy turned and looked at him strangely. Then he flashed a grin and jumped into the air. Zoro snapped his neck back in an attempt to follow the streaking boy. He had moved incredibly quickly. Sweat began to bead at Zoro's forehead as he considered the boy.

When he first say him over the wall about an hour ago, he knew something was different about him. He had some sort of aura to him. Something told him he was strong. But this…?

Luffy was leaping through the sky, continuously climbing higher, seemingly jumping off of nothing, over and over again.

 _Was he flying?_

Zoro had never seen anything like it. He gulped as Luffy left his field of vision. There was something strange about that boy.

* * *

Luffy looked around below him from his position in the sky. He hadn't found any other marines besides the initial guards at the gates. They all had to be around somewhere. He let his conscious feel out, searching for life. He found them grouped together, about 40 of them, all together on the roof of the building. None of them were really that strong. Luffy shrugged and decided that was probably a good of a place as any to find the weird kid he had thrown.

He angled himself and shot down towards the building. His skin was steaming red, and the blood that pumped wildly through his body excited him. He thought back to what Kuzan had said about relying on this technique too much. He frowned and shoved it out of his mind. His form zipped through the air, a super sonic boom following his trail. He felt a little bit of resistance as he must have shot through something, before he landed heavily on the roof of the marine base. It kicked up a huge dust of concrete as it buckled below him, sending cracks wildly across the floor.

He wiped his hands and let Gear Second fade. He tried to catch his breath. Kuzan was right about one thing, it certainly tired him out. The dust cleared around him and he looked around curiously. Behind him a large statue loomed, with a hole blown through it's chest. Ah, that must be what he went through.

Surrounding him on all sides were various marines. They were all in a state of shock at the sudden appearance of the boy. It seems that they had been in the process of lifting the statue up.

"Ah, sorry!" Luffy laughed good naturedly, rubbing the back of his head.

A particularly large marine at the back who seemed to have some sort of axe shoved through his forearm shouted.

"Kill him! He destroyed my statue!" the man raged. His face was beginning to darken into a dark shade of red with his anger.

Luffy completely ignored him when he spotted the young blonde haired boy he had punched, cowering next to the axe marine man.

"Ah! Dad that's him! He's the one who hit me!" Helmeppo cried. Salty tears had stained his cheeks and a red bruise was blossoming on his cheekbone. In an instant, Luffy was next to him. He grabbed hold of the boy with one hand, grasping the base of his neck.

"There you are, I've been looking for you!" Luffy said, before taking off, dragging Helmeppo behind him like a doll. The marines scrambled to follow, Axehand Morgan shouting in rage behind him.

* * *

Nami smirked when she saw the safe. It was an old model, and was well used. Both of these things made it very easy for her to get in. Because it was old, she was well familiar with the design, and because it was well used, there were ample amounts of clues as to what the code was. Paired together, it was incredibly trivial for her to get in.

It seemed that the distraction with Luffy had been worth it, because the marine captain who this room and safe belonged to, was currently out. She also hadn't encountered any any other guards on the way. It wasn't very smart of them, though. You would think that if someone attacked the base, that they would put guards everywhere. You never really know what their motives might be, and so concentrating all your guards in one place was never a good idea. Nami wondered if all marine bases were run so poorly.

The lock clicked and the safe smoothly opened. Her heartbeat quickened. This was the moment she was waiting for. She just would take this map, make one last stop back at Conomi, then head for the Grand Line for the last trip she would ever have to make for those bastards.

The contents were sparse. But that didn't bother her this time. She wasn't here for money anyway. She spotted what she was looking for at the back, a weathered old parchment, neatly rolled up. She reached for it with glee. This was it.

Her map-makers side was unable to contain herself and she decided to unroll it right there and take a peek at the elusive map of the Grand line. It was difficult for citizens in the East Blue to get their hands on something like this. Only the very wealthy ever crossed into another sea or the Grand line anyway. Well the wealthy, and pirates. It was known as the pirate graveyard, but any pirate worth their salt went looking for adventure and treasure along the Grand Line.

She was banking on that. The pirates of the Grand Line would hopefully be much wealthier than those in the East Blue. It had been incredibly slow going to grow her fortune. It was rare for anyone to have more than 1 million beri, and those who had even that were rare in themselves.

Gulping, she unraveled the scroll.

But she found no map. Inside, in big blocky lettering,

 **I'VE FLASHILY TAKEN THE MAP - BUGGY THE CLOWN**

Next to it was a crudely drawn pirate mark. Nami's heart went cold. Angrily, she slammed a fist into the wall. Of course this only served to cause a sharp pain in her knuckles. She was so close! And it was ruined by more damn _pirates!_

She gathered herself and looked at the mark drawn there, her mouth hardened into a thin line. That mark belonged to someone they called "Buggy the Immortal." Nami wasn't too familiar with the rumors about Buggy's powers, but she did know where they were rumored to be at the moment. She kept an ear to the ground when it involved prominent crews in the East Blue, and Buggy was a rather famous pirate around these parts. There was even a rumor that he had eaten a devil fruit.

Not that Nami believed in superstitions like those anyway.

She took a deep breath. She deftly returned everything, even the pirate marked parchment, back to their original positions. Nobody needed to know she had been in here. Once satisfied with her work, she stepped out into the hall, her thoughts stormy.

It wasn't a big deal, she told herself, just a quick detour. She would somehow steal the map from Buggy and everything would go according to plan once again. Slowly, she crept down the hall, her eyes out for enemies. She still hadn't seen anyone, including Luffy, but from the sounds she had heard earlier, he must still be on a rampage somewhere.

Just as she was about to turn the corner, the aforementioned straw hat wearing pirate shot past her, with the blonde captain's kid in tow. He was begging his captor to let him go, but Luffy didn't seem to be paying any attention.

Nami shirked away from the hall as several marines gave chase. Finally, Helmeppo seemed to get Luffy's attention with something, and they had stopped. Nami cursed, she couldn't leave with them still around. She attempted to meld back into the shadows to observe and wait it out.

"Ah, why didn't you say so!" Luffy shouted, then he turned to go back, but several marines were blocking the path. They leveled their rifles at him and began shouting orders.

"Stop! Don't move! Raise your hands slowly and let Helmeppo go!"

Luffy considered them for a second, before frowning. "No!" he shouted, then pulled Helmeppo in front of him to use as a shield. "Shoot if you want!"

It was a dirty move, but after seeing how Helmeppo had acted before, Nami could hardly feel bad for him. Still it was weird for her to be supporting a pirate's actions at this point and she didn't know how to feel about that.

Luffy shuffled past the guards and started his sprint again. He turned and rushed into one of the rooms he had run past before, and the guards followed him to the door, where it seems he had barricaded himself.

Nami shook her head and made to leave. It was something she wouldn't have to worry about soon. She would be off this island in less than an hour and would most likely never see the pirate who didn't act like a pirate, ever again.

A hand on her shoulder caused a chill to run down her spine.

Slowly she turned, the sweat on her forehead already forming. Behind her were about 5 marines. They had probably come this way in order to cut off escape paths for Luffy. She hadn't heard them coming because she had been lost in her conflicting thoughts.

 _Damnit, this is what I get for thinking too much!_ She swore inwardly. She was panicking, but she wasn't dead yet. She put on a fake smile and laughed. It was warbly, the panic clear in the sound. Hopefully they didn't notice.

"Hi… I was looking for some help from the marines, but nobody was at the front of the building!" she laughed, rubbing the back of her head.

At the back of the pack of marines, one loomed above the rest. His jaw was made out of some kind of metal and an axe was sticking out of his arm in place of his hand. He was also easily double as tall as the other marines there. His eyes glared evilly.

What sort of monstrosity is that thing? Nami wondered.

"So there was a little rat scurrying around as well. Are you and that Straw Hat in league together?" the axe handed man asked Nami, his voice low and deadly.

Nami laughed again nervously, "Huh? I saw that guy running past just now, is he the one causing all the commotion?"

The marine made no move to respond so Nami tried again.

"Maybe that guy is an ally of the Zoro guy you guys already caught! Try asking him!" She was desperate now. The marines had surrounded her on all sides, but were waiting for the command of the axe man.

"What a coincidence. I was about to go there and execute him. We'll take you too. Maybe Straw Hat will be lured out by the deaths of his friends…" He finished. With that the marines seized her. She struggled as hard as she could against them.

"Wait! I don't know them! You can't do this I didn't do anything!" she shrieked. One of the marines hoisted her over his shoulder, while the others began marching down the hall following their leader.

"Let me go!"

* * *

Luffy looked around the extravagantly decorated room quickly. It was themed in purple and there were flowers and things everywhere. Luffy frowned, not sure how to react. He tapped at a perfume dispenser on the coffee table.

"Hey are you sure this one is your room?" he asked towards the crumpled heap that was Helmeppo. The boy only groaned in response. Luffy gave up on him and looked around again. He hadn't spotted any swords on the first sweep around. There was a suit of medieval armor in the corner though.

"Ah! There it is!" he jogged over to a large cabinet. Next to it, leaning against the wall were three katanas.

"Which one is Zoro's?" he asked, pointing at the swords. He looked back at Helmeppo. The boy was unmoving, still in his heap on the ground.

"Did you feint?" Luffy asked. He went over and prodded the boy's body. Then, he stuck a finger in his ear, unsure of what to do next. A noise from outside drew his attention. He hopped back up and trotted over to the window and looked out.

Down below in the courtyard about a dozen marines had gathered. At the back was Captain Morgan. They had roughly thrown Nami down next to where Zoro was tied. She was scrambling to get up. Across from them the marines all leveled their rifles at the two.

Through the window Luffy could hear Morgan's voice.

"So you two as well as the straw hat boy must be planning to undermine my power!" he shouted roughly at the two.

"What are you doing! Your idiot son promised to let me go if I survived a full month!" Zoro yelled back in protest.

"Roronoa Zoro… My son was planning on playing with you a little bit longer before executing you, but I think it's about time we end this." Morgan swept his arms wide. "You may be a famous pirate hunter, but before my great strength, you're nothing!"

He barked an order and the marines all readied to shoot. Below Zoro's feet Nami scrambled backwards, trying desperately to get away.

Luffy scrambled up inside the room. He would _not_ lose his first two crew members so easily. Since he couldn't figure out which one was Zoro's, he decided to just scoop up all three swords and ask him.

Then he hastily ran to the window. He latched on to the ledge and pulled back, the tension building.

"Gomu gomu no rocket!" he shouted. With a great snap, his arms shot him forward and through the window. The window and glass screamed past him as he flew. With one hand held his hat on his head, while he looked down to angle his descent.

At the last possible second he landed in front of the two, and raised his arms out in order to block the shots. The rifles cracked and sent forth their fire. About a dozen bullets dug into him. Behind him Zoro and Nami looked on in shock.

Across from them Morgan glowered. "The Straw Hat boy…"

Luffy doubled over. Nami looked at him, fear in her eyes.

"Luffy? Are you okay?" she asked.

Suddenly he straightened, throwing his arms wide.

"That won't work!" He shouted triumphantly. Then he threw his head back and laughed heartily as the bullets were turned back and shot towards the marines. All of them went wide, but the marines were shaken. Many of them stumbled back.

"What kind of human are you?!" Zoro shouted at Luffy's back, unable to believe what he had just seen.

Luffy turned towards him and flashed his grin. "I am the man who will become the King of the Pirates!" he shouted.

Zoro felt his blood begin rushing through his body, goosebumps forming on his skin. There was so much conviction in that statement. Enough to rival, even surpass his own ambitions. Luffy's eyes were defiant and strong.

Then as soon as it came, the aura dissipated. Luffy was smiling good naturedly and held 3 swords in front of him towards Zoro, completely ignoring the marines in the courtyard.

"Hey which one is your treasured sword? I couldn't figure it out so I brought them all." Luffy asked, shoving the swords forward.

"All of them belong to me because I use the three sword style." Zoro responded seriously. Luffy grinned in response. Beside them Nami's mind couldn't keep up. She just looked on in disbelief at what had just happened.

 _How had he deflected those bullets?_

The marines were scrambling to reform their line.

Luffy turned back to face them, but continued his questioning.

"If you resist the marines with me here, you will be an outlaw, or do you want to die here instead?" he asked seriously.

Zoro's face widened into a crazed grin. "Are you some kind of devil?" he asked. "Forget it, I can't die here so I'll accept your request and become a pirate!"

Luffy suddenly lost his serious demeanor and cheered loudly.

"Yes! I have my first crew member!" he cried out, pumping his fists.

Zoro sweatdropped. "Just hurry up and get these ropes off of me."

Luffy moved to comply. The marines had formed up, but they didn't know what to make of the situation. They were murmoring, trying to figure out how he had repel the bullets. Behind them a vein popped on Morgan's face.

"Stop your murmuring! He probably ate one of those "Devil Fruits!" If bullets don't work on them, just use your swords!" He shoved his axe hand forward to point at the trio. "Charge them!"

The marines gathered their wits and ran into the square with a warcry. Zoro watched them approach, the sweat beginning to pool on him. His instincts screamed at him to move. He couldn't even feel the wounds from earlier that day, adrenaline was pumping like blood through his veins.

"Hurry up!" he shouted.

Luffy scratched the back of his head and frowned. "Damn it's hard to get this knot untied. I can't concentrate, give me a little more time." he responded, no hurry in his voice.

"We don't have time for that!" Zoro shouted. The marines were almost upon them.

"Oh, I got one side!" Luffy triumphed, holding the rope up so Zoro could see.

"Idiot, give me a sword!" Zoro screamed.

Just then the advancing marines were upon them, swords screaming through the air. A great clash of steel rang out, the harsh sound of metal on metal echoing across the courtyard. The marines all stood still, completely stopped.

In one swift motion, Zoro had managed to cut the remaining ropes and block the dozen or so incoming blows.

Nami looked up at the swordsman with fear. He looked like a wolf, his eyes deadly, muscles straining under the pressure. He held a sword in both hands as well as one gripped between his teeth. The shadows from his bandana played against his face, giving him a demonic look. Had they made a mistake?

"If any of you move, I'll kill you." Zoro's voice was like a knife. Blood beaded from his forehead. The wounds were leaking, but he stood tall.

Off to the side Luffy grinned like a maniac.

"So cooool!" he shouted. Zoro glared over at him.

"I told you I would be a pirate with you. But I have my own goals! I'm going to become the world's greatest Swordsman! It doesn't matter if I'm good or bad, as long as my name is known to the entire world!" behind him the marines trembled against the strain. "If you ever get in my way, I'll cut you down!" he finished with conviction.

Luffy held his gaze easily. The pressure seemed to deflect off him like water.

"Good. Since you're going to become the Pirate King's crew member, I would hope you could accomplish something as small as that!" Luffy responded with a grin.

Zoro's feral face returned. "Well said!" he snarled.

"Zoro, duck!" Luffy shouted.

Immediately, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, Zoro let his swords fall away. The marine's own blades fell towards him in a dozen deadly arcs. But he felt no fear.

"Gomu gomu no whip!"

Abruptly the entire force was blown back, their bodies colliding in a giant crash, sending soldiers flying everywhere. Their limbs entangled and broke. Zoro straightened and looked back at his captain, a bead of sweat on his face.

"What the hell are you?" he asked seriously. On the ground beside him Nami couldn't believe her eyes. Luffy's leg had stretched to several time's his body length. He had used it as a long weapon to sweep the enemies away. There was so much force behind it, the ground had cracked beneath his other foot.

Luffy smiled wide, "I'm a rubber man!"

Behind them the marines were beginning to crawl away,

"Rubber man?"

"What the hell we can't kill these guys! They're too strong!"

"Captain we need to retreat!"

The marines clamored to have their voices heard. At the entrance to the courtyard Captain Morgan stood furious. With his one good hand he clenched it into a fist, his knuckles going white.

"Whoever just said that… Get your gun and shoot yourself in the head! That's an order! I don't need useless soldiers!" he shouted, his voice tearing through the air. Slowly the marines stopped. Trembling they gathered their guns and raised them to their heads.

"What the hell are these stupid marines doing?" Zoro shouted. Luffy sprang into action, kicking off the ground with a gigantic force. Dust was sent flying behind him briefly covering Nami and Zoro from view.

Across the courtyard Luffy's fist slammed into the metal axe embedded in Captain Morgan's hand.

"Trash like you could never be a marine!" Luffy shouted angrily.

Captain Morgan landed heavily, but he was up in a second. He threw his coat backwards and held his axe hand forward. He was definitely angry. His entire body quivered with his held back fury. Around them, the marines hesitantly lowered their weapons, ready to spectate the oncoming fight.

"Rank is everything! People like you have no right to challenge someone as great as me!" Captain Morgan shouted, his veins bulging prominently. "I am Marine Captain Axe Hand Morgan!" he readied a swing.

"My name is Luffy! Nice to meet you!" Luffy responded simply.

With a roar of anger, Captain Morgan swung with all his might. Luffy lept deftly over the horizontal slash, one hand on his hat to keep it from falling. Beside them, the concrete wall exploded with force from the slash. Luffy turned in the air and swept out with a kick towards his head, the wind whistling at the speed.

With a great crash, he connected, a sickening crunch resounding from the impact. Morgan's metal jaw had come unhinged, a large impact crater blown into the steel where a bolt had held it in place.

Luffy landed on the balls of his feet, grinning. He snapped back his arm, ready to throw a punch.

Morgan quickly recovered and pulled his arm back in a swift arc. He slashed downwards vertically, putting everything he had into it. The axe flew through the air, leaving a trail of screaming wind.

Luffy moved his body to the left almost imperceptibly and let the axe pass by him within inches. Before the blade ever hit the ground Luffy's fist snapped forward with a supersonic crack. It exploded against the Marine Captain's chest sending him flying into the building opposite the square. The wall Morgan collided with crumbled against the deadly force sending him further inside.

"You're a terrible marine!" Luffy shouted after him.

He moved to pursue him, but a commotion behind him made him turn.

"Don't touch me you creep!" Nami shouted, a staff appearing from nowhere. Beside her in a crumple of limbs was Helmeppo, sporting a nasty bruise on his head. He had dropped a pistol next to him, in favor of nursing his new wound.

Nami huffed and walked several feet away from him. Luffy laughed at the display. It looked like Helmeppo had tried to take a prisoner, but Nami wasn't as helpless as he thought he might be. Behind him, he sensed a presence. Most likely Morgan. Still within his field of vision, Luffy noticed Zoro tensing. Luffy grinned and decided to let him have his fun.

"Luffy behind you!" Nami shouted from across the square. It was seemingly too late.

"I am the greatest Marine Captain!" a voice erupted from behind him. A green blur rushed past Luffy. Then, silence. Luffy's grin widened.

"Nice, Zoro!" he smiled, turning.

A geyser of blood shot from Captain Morgan's chest. He fell backwards onto his back, his eyes rolled inside his head. Zoro stood behind him, clutching his three swords. With a flick, he removed the blood from the blades and turned back towards Luffy.

"Leave it to me, Captain!" he smiled through his sword.

* * *

About half an hour later Zoro and Luffy were sitting around the bar back at the restaurant with Rika and her mother. Plates were piled up high all around them, but the two hadn't slowed one bit.

Besides them, the restaurant was empty. Outside there seemed to be some sort of festival going on, and it looked like all the patrons were out there celebrating. Both mother and daughter seemed to have gotten used to the two's ravenous appetite and were busy cooking away.

Zoro sat back finally, a hand on his stomach in content.

"I'm so full! I hadn't eaten in nine days, I almost starved to death!" he laughed before looking over at his captain. "How can you even eat more than me? You're so scrawny!"

Luffy made no move to answer, only motioning for more as he finished his plate.

"Eat all you want guys, you saved the town!" Rika's mother came over with another full plate, setting it down in front of Luffy.

After they had defeated Morgan, the marine's had given a huge cheer and let their weapons go. Apparently everyone had hated Morgan and his family around these parts. Zoro had collapsed from hunger so Luffy had brought him back to the restaurant. But by that point he was feeling hungry himself.

Luffy looked around suddenly. "Huh, I wonder where Nami went." he said, his mouth full.

"Nami? You mean that redheaded girl that was in the square?" Zoro asked. Luffy nodded.

"What is she on our crew or something?" Zoro continued.

Luffy grinned. "Yeah, she's pretty good at navigating!"

Zoro briefly wondered where Nami had agreed to this, or if Luffy had just decided she would be on the crew. It certainly looked like she had run off though. Zoro inspected his new captain. He had been right about him. He was definitely strong. He hadn't shown anything close to his full power back in the square. Zoro knew he probably didn't need to interfere at the end with Morgan, but Luffy seemed happy to let him help.

A devil fruit…

Luffy was a rubber man. Apparently that gave him all sorts of powers. Zoro didn't know what to make of it, but it didn't really matter. His captain was strong. Even if he wasn't, Zoro wouldn't let it get in his way of obtaining his goal.

"What next?" Zoro asked. Luffy considered his question as he continued to eat.

"Eh, we are gonna head back to the Grand Line probably. That's where all the strong guys are."

Zoro grinned savagely. Maybe joining Luffy would get him closer to his goal faster than he thought. "Makes sense, we're going for the One Piece after all."

The door to the restaurant swung open. Although there was a huge hole directly next to it, the marines entered through the door civilly. The newly appointed leader cleared his throat and approached the two at the table.

"Excuse me, we were wondering, are you really pirates?" he asked uncomfortably.

Luffy grinned and shot up "Yeah I just found my first crew member and I have another one somewhere around!"

"I see…" The marine looked down uncomfortably and readjusted his hat. "Even though you just saved our town and base, you guys are pirates and as marines we can't let you stay here any longer…"

He looked up at Luffy, his eyes pained. "Please leave immediately. We will then report the events here to headquarters as soon as you leave."

Behind them the townsfolk who were celebrating erupted in protest.

Rika's mother walked over, hands on her hips. "What are you saying? As you just said, these guys saved our town! The least you could do is let them have a meal!"

Ignoring her Luffy stood. "Well… Lets go then! Thank you for the food Ma'am!" he stretched. Beside him Zoro stood as well.

Rika looked up with sad eyes "Are you really leaving guys?"

Without a word the two left the building a strode down the docks. The people let them pass but were hurling insults at the marines. Once there, they found that the boat Luffy had arrived in was missing.

Luffy didn't seem worried and just hopped in the next closest one. If the owner was around, he made no move to stop them.

"Well, I guess it's time to go! Leaving nothing behind, that's what being a pirate is about!" Zoro said, grinning at his new life. Luffy returned his smile with a laugh.

Behind them, someone shouted. The two turned to see what it was all about, and there at the entrance to the docks was a long line of marines, standing at attention.

"What now…" Zoro spat, hand ready at his waist.

"Group salute!" The leader shouted loudly. With that, the entire line raised their arms in salute, in one smooth motion.

Luffy let out a loud chuckle.

"I've never seen marines saluting pirates before!" Zoro laughed too.

Luffy turned and hopped into the boat. Once Zoro had gotten in, he cast away from the docks. Behind them the leader of the marines had turned to the rest and had said something about not eating for a week in punishment for saluting pirates.

Luffy turned and waved at the receding shore. Soon it was out of view, so he ran to the front of the small boat and raised his hands in a cheer.

"We're off! Grand Line here we come!"

Zoro wondered about the red headed woman and whether Luffy cared about finding his supposed other crew mate at all.

"Oh. Zoro do you know how to navigate a boat?"

Zoro let out a long sigh. It looked like his life was about to get a lot more interesting.

* * *

 **The Coast of Goa**

Nico Robin watched the fleeing ships, a cold hand wrapped around her heart. The sweat that dripped from her forehead felt like ice. She shivered, holding her hands around her body in a protective blanket. After a last look at the revolutionaries on the horizon she set to work turning her boat in the opposite direction.

Inwardly her mind raced. She had caught a glimpse of a Marine warship. Standing on board was someone she had hoped to never again see in her life.

Aokiji.

It had set her into a huge panic attack. Several minutes had passed before she was even able to move, and at that point her boat had drifted completely out of range of the Marines. It looked like they hadn't even noticed her. But she couldn't still her racing heart.

It had been many years since she had last seen him, but his face was forever etched into her mind. How had the revolutionaries let word get out? Why did it have to be him that responded! The questions billowed like expanding storm clouds in her mind, even as she left the scene. What if the information that she was coming had gotten out as well? Were they looking for her? Was this a trap?

Her hands still shaking she chose an island at random from the map. She needed somewhere to rest, and probably hole up for awhile until the marine presence on the sea calmed down. She swallowed and began adjusting her sails, many ghosts of hands sprouting all over the ship, pulling at the rigging.

This trip out to the East Blue had been a mistake.

She grasped at the well worn note tucked into her shirt, reading it again.

Tears stung at the corners of her eyes. She had been so close. She shook her head and wiped away the formed tears. It might have been a trap anyway. She should get back to Alabasta as soon as possible. Throughout all her years, this was her last lead. Whether the revolutionaries knew anything or not, she couldn't risk it now. Not when they were so close.

Finally, the boat was on course. She let herself slump down in a ball against the mast, holding her legs as close to her chest as she could. Sobs began to wrack her body in waves. She desperately fought against the face that kept appearing in her mind.

 _Why was he here?_

* * *

 **Close By**

The den den mushi clicked, it's face instantly morphing into a devious smile, glasses suddenly on it's face.

"Monet, how are things going?" the voice came from the snail.

The green haired woman smiled, her eyes sharp. She held the snail cupped within two hands, as her raft drifted slowly across the still ocean. Around her, snow fell in soft tufts.

"Joker, it seems like the revolutionaries have a rat. The navy appeared, with Aokiji himself at the helm." she chuckled darkly, her voice gave away no sympathy.

"I see… and Nico Robin?" the snail responded.

Monet's smile twisted into an evil grin. "She's within reach."

"Follow her."

 **Next time: Orange Town!**

 **Hey everyone, thank you for reading. I know this chapter is a little long, but I didn't really know where to end it without causing the next chapter to be rather short. I'm not happy with this, but when am I ever. I wish I was a better writer. Let me know what you guys think!**

 **Oh yeah, sorry for the long wait. I uh. The reason is because... yeah.**

 **See you next time!**


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